Felipe Romero Beltrán

After earning a degree in Visual Arts in Buenos Aires, Felipe Romero (Bogotá, Colombia, 1992) traveled to Jerusalem on a scholarship, where he developed photographic projects in the Middle East. In 2016, he moved to Madrid to further his studies in photography.

Throughout his work, Felipe Romero has been drawn to territories that have been or continue to be sites of tension, conflict and visual reflection.

In the Bravo project, he focuses on the more than 1,000 kilometers of the Río Bravo (known as the Rio Grande in the United States) that form the border between the United States and Mexico. His images place the viewer in a specific section of the Mexican side. People from Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala arrive, reaching the final stage of a long and arduous journey. In this setting, the river dictates everything, ultimately shaping the identity and way of life of those who encounter it.

Bravo is conceived as a photographic essay composed of fifty-two images that explore this reality through a series of photographs of architecture, people and landscapes: closures, bodies and breaches. Almost bare interiors, walls and surfaces where textures, colors and portraits of individuals the artist has encountered during his travels to the region stand out. Ultimately: a poignant visual essay, both stark and poetic, on the themes of waiting and border identity.

Curator: Victoria del Val (Fundación MAPFRE)