Elisa
Miralles
Statement
I use photography, along with installation and performance, to construct myself, connect with the world, and try to understand it.
My work is about how we relate, physically, emotionally and socially. I’m interested in the image we project and how we build our identity in a society that tells us how to behave and limits our freedom.
From a gender perspective, and always thinking about how we inhabit our bodies, I dive into topics that unsettle me, such as inherited imaginaries, beauty standards, and the tyranny of impossible bodies.
Elisa Miralles is a Spanish photographer and visual artist with a background in Chemical Engineering. She began her career in 2006 after receiving a scholarship from World Press Photo to participate in the Urban Youth project in Manila, Philippines. This international experience marked the beginning of her exploration of documentary photography and her interest in how identity is constructed in relation to the social environment.
Her work examines the image we project and how we inhabit the body within a society that shapes our behavior and desires. From a critical perspective, her practice addresses themes such as gender stereotypes, inherited imaginaries, body representation, and the boundaries between public and private spheres.
She has received several awards, including the first prize in FotoPres by Fundación La Caixa and the Unicaja Photography Prize in Almería. Her work has been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally in venues such as the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Sala Canal de Isabel II, Rina Bouwen Gallery, and Galería Nueva in Madrid; the El Greco Museum and Tolmo Gallery in Toledo; Caixaforum Barcelona; MUVIM in Valencia; and the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland.
Outside Europe, her projects have reached the Museum of Visual Arts in Buenos Aires, the Cándido Bidó Museum in Bonao (Dominican Republic), and the Spanish Cultural Centers in Mexico City, Lima, and Santiago de Chile.
She has also participated in international art fairs and festivals such as Jaalphoto, Hybrid Art Fair, Voies Off (Arles), Art Photography Show (San Diego), PhotoIreland, GoaPhoto (India), Unseen (Amsterdam), Vilnius Photo Circle (Lithuania), La Nuu (Barcelona), and PhotoEspaña (Madrid).
In 2017, she published the photobook WANNABE, edited by La Fábrica, a reflection on the unattainable ideals imposed on the female body. Her work also appears in the collective book 50 Photographs with History (Signo Editores).
She was selected for the Graniti Murales artist residency in Sicily, where she developed a site-specific work linked to the local context.
In 2021, she was invited to exhibit at Sala Muncunill in Terrassa alongside Lurdes R. Basolí. From this collaboration emerged the project #serlobas, which seeks to broaden the representation of women’s bodies through a collective approach, advocating for active self-representation in opposition to centuries of objectification. #serlobas has been exhibited in venues such as Sala Amárica in Vitoria-Gasteiz and Chillida Leku as part of the Distirabirak Festival 2024.
In parallel, Elisa has developed a body of research in performance art, exploring the intersections between image, body, and space. Her performances have been presented in institutions such as the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and Canal de Isabel II in Madrid, expanding her visual language to incorporate movement, narrative, and sound.
Alongside her artistic practice, she teaches contemporary visual creation courses, fostering critical thinking, conceptual development, and the pursuit of a personal voice in photography.