Uxío da Vila

The photographer Uxío da Vila opens at CASTELLANA 22 space in Madrid his latest exhibition, Deriva, where he shows a selection of works in large and small format that delve into photography as a mirror of the variable and ephemeral identity of the human being.

“We all try to hide our true identity and distract viewers from our own truth for fear of being too exposed or of making ourselves known in our totality.” So says Uxío da Vila (Madrid, 1970), who with a prestigious career in the field of editorial and commercial photography allows himself the luxury of carrying out in privacy an absolutely autobiographical work, as personal as it is independent and in some cases cryptic, which he very rarely exhibits in public. A summary of his identity and his own drift.

The exhibition, on display until July 31 at the CASTELLANA 22 space at WeCollect Club, is the result of eight years of research into the concept of “identity” and the transformations that accompany each person as he or she drifts, one of the obsessions that has always pursued the author throughout his career. “A well-defined personal identity can mutate or even disappear depending on the course a life follows. Our identity, which we consider unique, our own and intrinsic to our persons, is not so unique, it can deviate to the point of not being able to recognize us”.

Twenty unique photographs make up this exhibition, most of them with distracting elements or intervened by the author with papers of different opacity that let us see the image underneath them, “in the same way that depending on the level of intimacy we have with the people around us, we let us see more or less of our real identity”. Made on film with different cameras of large, medium and small format, except one with iPhone, the pieces show some of the multiple obsessions of the author, citrus fruits in different states and compositions, geographical locations, hair, seas, interiors, sculptures, marbles, etc. that are part of his past and future. Faced with this idea of identity, Uxío da Vila ends up proposing a game about the authorship of the works: are all the works really his? Is it possible that several authors have intermingled in the identity of the author for this exhibition? According to the photographer himself, “the idea is to what extent it would be relevant. With this exercise, we realize the true fragility of a concept such as our own identity, to which we all give enormous relevance, when in reality it is practically an abstraction”.

With a degree in Law from the University of Alcalá, Uxío da Vila (Madrid, 1970) took his first steps in photography as a self-taught photographer, beginning his professional career assisting the photographer Ramón Andión and specializing in portraits, still life and interiors. Since then, he has collaborated with some of the best fashion, interior design and lifestyle magazines, such as AD, Vanity Fair, Telva, T Magazine, Forbes, GQ or YoDona and made advertising campaigns for brands such as Loewe, IKEA, El Corte Inglés, Opticalia, El Ganso or Havaianas, among many others. Enthusiast of analog photography and winner of two LUX photography awards, he currently combines his professional work as director of Plató Cenital studio and editorial and advertising photographer with his more personal work.