Etel Borges Reis (Goiânia, Brasil, 1966)
Etelvina Teresa Borges Vaz dos Reis
@etelreis
Architect with a doctorate in Fine Arts from the UB, artist photographer, exhibition curator.
Since I was little my world was related to Art: music, dance, poetry, books, theater, photography, cinema, everything fascinated me. Later I have studied Architecture and Urbanism in Brazil; Master in Architecture and PhD in Fine Arts, in Barcelona. I have worked as an architect and university professor in Brazil. In Barcelona, I worked as an architect at Itec and at the Pla Territorial Metropolità de Barcelona; then between 2010 and 2013 I was an entrepreneur and partner in a Digital Printing Center, Fotocopia’m Entença. Now I dedicate myself in addition to my family, which comes first, to my artistic work as a photographer and curator of exhibitions.
In my personal work as an artist photographer it is difficult to define myself in a single genre of photography. I transit between the documentary (streetphoto, architecture photography, travel photography), and portraits portraits.
Reflecting on these 30 years of photography in my life, I see a marked concern with identity and feminine gender from my first exhibition Ser Seducción in 1988, to the series of women with Veils around the world, 2014; the exhibition Identity. Performances and Visualities, in 2019, at the La Bòbila Cultural Center; and now in 2020, the 11 Fotoconnectades project, in commemoration of International Women’s Day. I also participated for two consecutive years, 2019/2020, in the Art Connects Women, organized by ZeeArts, in Dubai, where female artists from all over the world participate, in commemoration of the International Women Day.
With the Symbolic Map exhibition in 2018, within the Off Revela’T, I tried to create a map with 10 important photographic moments in my life, in the form of small installations. It helped me to trace a path, a trajectory and have a panoramic view of my photograph, not always very visible to oneself.
As a curator I organize photographic exhibitions for three consecutive years (2018-2020), on the Diversity of Brazilian Culture, every September to commemorate Brazil Day, at the La Bòbila Cultural Center, in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat; and other exhibitions for the Off Revela’T, in Barcelona.
Whenever I can, I contribute my bit as a volunteer at photography festivals (Revela’T, Expo.20, among other solidarity photography events, such as ISO1600 and AWE Summit Barcelona). I am enthusiastic about alternative, creative and experimental photography.