Karen Paulina Biswell (b. 1983, Colombia)
El sueño del Jaibana, 2016

About the work

El sueño del Jaibana

2016

El sueño del Jaibana means The dream of the shaman. In this disorienting universe the specular vision of the shaman is always held in reserve. In the last 9 years I have been working on an artistic project called Nama Bu, from a hotel suite in the old city center of Bogota to the cordillera mountains, which brought me to explore notions of voyeurism, vulnerability and the temptations of exoticism. Having been raised between Paris and Colombia, I have always been in transit from one world to the other, my identity always being questioned and reality being fought out between European urban existence and the idea of a lost paradise. I explore this schism and the logic of sense through the dramatic questions of who, where and why.

Finally, there was the subject of art itself, the object transcending time through photography. It is a personal journey by way of projection and fabulation, transcending meaning, not interested in revealing per se, but in exploring what is hidden.

Nama Bu, in native Embera means, We Exist, and reveals a collaboration with the Native American Embera-Chamis community. This is an intensely personal voyage that explores themes revolving around personal and collective identity against a backdrop of extreme beauty and violence in Colombia. Nama Bu explores different aspects of the artist’s relationship with this unknown world. From voyeurs to hostages, we are then allowed in their cosmic vision, from fascination at first to misunderstanding, and finally to what can only be called a true revelation.

Watch the entire video

Duration: 07:35

About the artist

Karen Paulina Biswell

Born in 1983, Aruba
Lives and works in Paris, France

Karen Paulina Biswell was born in Aruba in 1983 to Colombian parents who emigrated to Paris escaping the extreme political violence of the early ’90s. Her varied oeuvre –which is consistently defying definition – is drawn to subjects of vulnerability, morality, and human fate. She is committed to capturing the lesser-known aspects of contemporary life, the invisible and defiant elements of society, taking a deep interest in extreme states and the depths of the human mind and experience.

She has recently been part of exhibitions at Espacio 23 Miami, “Art and social unrest in the Jorge M. Perez Collection” at the Momenta Biennale de l’Image in Montreal, and the A4 Art Museum of Chengdu, China. In 2018, her work was exhibited at The 60 Wall Gallery Deutsche Bank, New York, The Vasarely Foundation in Aix-en Provence and the Museum of Modern Art of Medellin as well at La Cité International des Arts in Paris (2017) and Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles (2016 & 2017).

Biswell was nominated for the 8th edition of the Pictet Prize, the Higashikawa Award in Japan, the Gd4 Photoart Award by MAST Foundation and the Prix de la Photo Madame Figaro in Arles in 2016; theWorld Press Photo-Joop Swart Masterclass in 2014; She won the Photography residencies Program 2018-2019 of the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, France and the Second Prize of the IX Premio Colombo-Suizo de fotografía, Colombia in 2013.

Her work is part of the Public and Institutional collections of the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, France, Museo del Banco de la República, Colombia, Jorge M. Pérez Collection and Les Rencontres d’Arles, France.

Visit her website www.karenpaulinabiswell.com
Follow her on Instagram @karenpaulinabiswell