LAIA ABRIL
Laia Abril was one of the last guest lectures we had as a year group, her work really questions the stereotypes of social and religious groups, and helps viewers gather a deeper knowledge of the subject. With her most recent project taking over five years, it is clear to see how hard Laia works and how dedicated she is to telling stories. Without a doubt, I could clearly see just how passionate Lara is about her work and the issues it surrounds, her chapter titled “On Abortion” references speeches from world leaders’s and their opinion on the matter. I was really moved gy this project, it felt very real, with Lara stating facts such as “in 2015, 303,000 women died during pregnancy or childbirth, with many more suffering from infection or disease”. While it was hard to read the room from google meets, I am sure that the classroom would have feel silent if that had been a lecture in University.
Talking about her gallery and exhibition work, Lara stated how it is import to learn from both positive and negative experiences, and how they can help shape you as a better photographer and learner. Lara also talked about her experience in exhibiting very small, personal projects, and how difficult It was for her to share something so imitate, “if I make the audience empathic with them, they will judge them less”. While I don’t think my work directly correlates to this quote, I am sure one day I will exhibit work that is very secluded to me, so it is important to learn this now.
Laia Abril’s work and mine are very different, the way she displays her work and documents these very real narratives is very impressive to me. I personally think I can really learn from Abril’s work, I tend to stay on the surface and not get personal with my photographs, but seeing Lara’s talk and discussing it with my peers, it had inspired me to start looking at more political and humankind issues.