Natalia LoperaAge: 21
Location: Medellín, Colombia
Request: Nikon d3100 kit
Grant Status: $570 of $570 raised (100%)
Born in Medellín, 21-year old Natalia Lopera lives with her parents, sister and brothers, roosters and dogs in the outskirts of the city. This makes her bus trips to the city long, but it is in these daily travels that she thinks and finds inspiration. Frequently she visits her grandparents on the other side of the city; during these rides in particular she finds the time to contemplate her work as the city passes by, block by block.
To support the costs of her study, she works as a domestic employee and has started to sell objects to help ease the cost of education that she makes in the spare moments she has between being a full-time student and part-time employee: clothing, earrings, paintings, purses and bags, small toys.
She entered the University of Antioquia directly out of high school, where she is in her fifth semester of working towards a degree in the Visual Arts. Drawing, painting, and now photography are her media.
She values working with color, not necessarily in relation to reality, but in relation to her expressive intentions. Photography and her life are deeply interwoven. Looking through her work, we find images from the spaces she lives and works in, of her family and animals, and the parts of the city and friends she knows well. This is her manner of working: using her daily life and what she knows intimately to create an emotional response to life on a grand scale.
Featured photographer Steve Davis says of her work, "Natalia Lopera's intimate pictures are full of affection for her subjects. She freely mixes the ambience of location with casual portraiture, yielding an insider's glimpse into the Colombian landscape. I see no signs of irony or self conscious artifice in her work. I think that's refreshing."
She hopes you will be inspired by her work to help her continue in her path in photography with a donation towards the purchase of a new camera to replace her analog camera that has developed focusing problems.
Natalia Lopera Portfolio
