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Determined to trap an internal moment, Joaquín Luna captures confessional compositions where the essence of individuals and environments intermingle with the artist’s own psyche. These existential inquiries are investigated through melancholic visual arrangements imbued with ambiguity, where decontextualized settings and isolated personalities delineate notions of disconnection. A sense of complexity is further encouraged by opposing muted and saturated colors, intentional and coincidental configurations, and hiding what is expected to be revealed, altogether gapping information and playing with tensions between reality and fiction. Unsettling atmospheres and liminal spaces are introduced by means of dividing elements such as mirrors, windows, and doors that, along with textures of glass, smoke, and rain frame glimpses of character that reinforce the uneasiness of the images. Suggestive instances stimulate the spectator to complete the fragmented narratives by projecting themselves into the scene. Inversely mirroring the observer's reaction, photographing becomes for Joaquín a refuge to encounter the self and activate sensations of solitude. Becoming both observer and observed, his work externalizes a faceless self-portrait.

His work has been published in books such as Urban Photographer of the Year (2019), in media such as Directors Library, Booooooom TV, Fucking Young, Metal Magazine, Street Photographers Foundation, Life Framer, Neo2 Magazine (2020), Life is Street (2019) or PANORAMA1 (2018). He has been selected for the LensCulture galleries in Exposure (2020) Black and White (2018, 2019) and Street competitions
Photography (2018), has received national and international awards including the Urban Photographer of the year (Cbre winner EMEA, 2019), first place in The Yellow Awards (Too Many Flash, 2019), first place in the Street category Photography at the 2020 Fine Art Photography Awards, winner of the Feature Shoot Street Photography Awards, finalist in the Sony World Photography Awards and at the London Street Photography Festival (2020), finalist in the Roberto Villagraz de EFTI, (2020), TAI (2020) and Lens (2018). His work has been exhibited collectively in galleries such as Foley Gallery (NYC, 2020), Somerset House (London, 2020) or at the Royal Photographic Society (Madrid, 2019). He has received official selections at film festivals such as London Lift-Off Film Festival, Berlin Indie Film Festival or Toronto Independent Film Festival (2021).

-WORDS BY VANESSA MURRELL-