Laia Abril

Laia Abril (Barcelona, Spain, 1986) is a photographer and multi platform storyteller. After finishing her degree in Journalism she moved to New York to attend ICP courses, where she decided to focus her projects in telling intimate stories which raises uneasy realities related with femininity. In 2009 when she enrolled for 2 years F A B R I C A – the Artist Residency of the Benetton Research Centre in Italy. In 2009 and 2010 she was a finalist of the Ian Parry, participating in the exhibition at the Getty Gallery in London both years, first with her project on the young lesbian community in Brooklyn Femme Love, and then with Last Cabaret a project on a sex club in Barcelona. Four years ago, she started a long-term project on Eating Disorders, with the First Chapter: A Bad day a short film focused in the daily life of a young girl struggling with bulimia. The piece has been featured internationally and screened at the NY Photo Festival 2011, 3rd Lumix PhotoFestival in Hannover, 2012 PhotoMeeting Ojo de Pez in Barcelona or at the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, CUNY, New York in 2014, among others. In 2012 she releases her self-publish fanzine, Thinspiration, the Second Chapter of the Eating Disorders series, which explores the use of photography in the Pro-Ana websites. The post-photographic project was also finalist at the Burn Emerging Photography Fun in 2012, shortlisted at FotoVisura Grant 2012 and selected Center Jury Choice Award in Santa Fe 2012. Most recently the project has been exhibited in the show From Here On in Barcelona and FotoFestiwal in Łódź 2013, FotoEspaña 2014 and has joined the permanent collection of the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. Abril created in 2013 the dummy Tediousphilia – together with the Art Director Ramon Pez (with who has founded a book maker team); based on the photographers sex webcam performers series, which ended up shortlisted in the 2013 Kassel Dummy Award. In 2014 the book was published by Musée de lElysée along with a special projection for La Nuit des Images Festival and the work will be exhibited in June 2015. At the beginning of 2014 Abril also launched the on going web-doc Asexuals Project, again using different platforms beyond photography, later exhibited in New York at the Sous Les Etoiles Gallery and projected in DocField Festival in Barcelona.