Juvenal Barría is a Bachelor in Visual Arts by the Universidad de Playa Ancha (Valparaíso, Chile), visual artist, photographer and arts manager.
His recent production takes archive material and performance as main axes, from which, through his alter ego “la Martuca”, a transvestite domestic maid, Mr Barría puts in tension social aspects related to power, abuse, politics and classes. The ideas that cross his work are influenced, in turn, by his own personal history, his sexual orientation and his Huilliche ethnic origin, creating fictions and simulations of stories the artist presents through photography, video and installation.
Mr Barría has shown his work continuously since 2004, both in Chile and abroad. In 2009, he received the Critics Award in the Emerging Artist category for his Fictional Bodies exhibition, held that same year at CENTEX, extension cultural centre of the Ministry of Cultures and Arts of Chile in Valparaíso. In 2018, he obtained the award for Best Exhibition at Galería Weekend Santiago for his solo show INFILTRADAX, curated by Felipe Forteza and Isabel Croxatto, presented at Isabel Croxatto Galería in Santiago.
He has worked as a project evaluator for Chile’s National Fund for Art and Culture (FONDART) in the area of Visual Arts, New Media and Photography. He has participated as a jury in several national photography competitions, also in the selection of annual exhibition projects for the Gallery of the National Council of Culture and Arts.
Mr Barría has taken part in artist-in-residence programmes en Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay; and his work has been shown in solo exhibitions, group shows and biennales in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and France.
Juvenal Barría currently lives and works in Valparaíso, Chile, where he manages and directs the contemporary art space Gálvez Inc/Judas Galería.
