Maíra Villela, Madrid
Biography
Born in 1979 in Río de Janeiro. Since 2014 Maíra Villela is Head of Exhibitions at PHotoEspaña Festival, and from 2019 on she is in charge of the PHotoEspaña Discoveries Portfolio Reviews. In 2013 she joined the Exhibition and Festival team of La Fábrica, the well-known Spanish cultural management company through which she has developed projects such as OjodePez Photo Meeting Barcelona, Festival Eñe, Master PHotoEspaña - PIC.A, Cultural Programming of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and various artistic activities of an interdisciplinary nature for PHotoEspaña. In Brazil, she has been a photojournalist for five years and from 2010 to 2011 she was a photographic editor. In 2013 she coordinated the PHotoEspaña.BR and in 2015 the Photobook Meeting of Sesc São Paulo. She has a degree in Journalism and a Postgraduate Diploma in Photojournalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She has more than 10 years of experience in the design and coordination of exhibition projects and cultural programming in the fields of photography, literature and music.
Curatorial Statement
I am a cultural manager, curator, head of exhibitions, mediator and photographer. I have focused my professional development towards the management of cultural projects in the field of photography, visual arts, music and literature. I have 13 years of experience devising and coordinating cultural projects. Through the knowledge I have acquired over the years, I have developed the ability to develop different projects simultaneously; to create proposals; to manage work and integrate multidisciplinary teams; to accompany the creative processes; to anticipate future needs; to confront problem solving with confidence; planning and executing budgets successfully; adapting the schedule and documentation to the profile of different institutions; and to encourage good working relationships so that our job is pleasant, done with responsibility and positivity. I work with projects that are developed in Spain and in Brazil. For them, I have worked with a wide number of professionals, as well as public and private institutions from different countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. From 2020 to 2021 I have had the opportunity to be the curator of an exhibition project for the Porto Photography Biennial. It was extremely pleasant to follow up and advise the artists along their creative processes while they were researching the theme of the project: sustainability in cities. My desire is to continue with curatorial projects seeking to focus on an exhibition approach of proposals that are not just contemplative but in which other ways of doing are proposed. Proposals that center on collaborative processes and experiences of creation and storytelling, with meanings and futures in line with the concerns of the community.