Roxana Barba

Working across installation, collage, video, and performance, Roxana Barba explores interconnections of memory, identity, existence, and cyclical time. Her practice is driven by research. She is interested in Andean futurism, myth and cosmology, the post-human age, cyborg theories, and technologies from feminist and anticolonial perspectives. She has been awarded a 2024 NALAC Fund for the Arts, a 2023 South Arts Individual Artist Grant, a 2023 Mentorship Award by the U.S. Latinx Art Forum, a 2022 Knight New Work, and a 2019 Knight Arts Challenge award. Barba is a resident artist at Laundromat Art Space in Little Haiti, Miami.

Collect Bean: Are there any recurring themes or motifs in your art, and if so, what do they represent to you?

Roxana Barba: Body gestures, text, and ancestral iconography. I like thinking of archaeology-architecture relationships in my work. These are not evident, but my ideas originate within those boundaries.

Collect Bean: How do you think your work has evolved?

Roxana Barba: I studied dance performance. With time and experimentation, I am now comfortable working in video, installation, collage, and mixed media. I still make dances for the stage, but my work now takes other forms, too, and it's presented in galleries and museums. 

Collect Bean: What does growth mean to you?

Roxana Barba: In the last couple of years, I have produced works that have been labor-intensive and have taken me a few years to make. To me, growth means surpassing your own expectations and facing your fears.