https://nancyvalladares.com Nancy D Valladares Thu, 28 May 2026 16:08:25 +0000 https://nancyvalladares.com en https://nancyvalladares.com/HOME Thu, 15 May 2025 15:55:43 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/HOME Nancy Valladares | Artist, Researcher &amp; Educator NANCY VALLADARES&nbsp; Artist, researcher and educator from Honduras currently based in New York.&nbsp; I’m currently researching the networks and flows of image making, and their accompanying technological regimes. Alongside Hsurae, I run Lythologies.org a decentralized research group interested in climate futures and new ecological imaginaries. I teach at parsons Design and Technology and Integrated Design.&nbsp; Find me on Are.na&nbsp;︎ SELECTED PROJECTS ----------------Kerogen Dreams Stories Written By The Sky Image Metabolisms On Exhaustive Rifts&nbsp; Photo/synthetic The Density of Breath Botanical Ghosts COLLABS---------------- lythologies.org &nbsp;LINKS---------------- ︎︎︎ Double Takes: ARAVARA ︎︎︎Teaching Creative Technology in the Age of AI, Index Chinatown, NYC ︎︎︎Deep listening with Lythologies at C-LAB Taipei ︎︎︎ Art Now: Artist Talk at U Lethbridge, AB, Canada ︎︎︎Weitzman Lecture at U Penn ︎︎︎&nbsp;Conversation with Gloria Sutton and American Artist at ICA Philadelphia︎︎︎ Embodied Storytelling at FabCafe Taipei︎︎︎ Workshop: at University Cafe in Taipei︎︎︎ Workshop: Moon Rhymes in the Frost at Artica, Svalbard︎︎︎ Screening: Microscope Gallery, New York ︎︎︎ List Projects 27 at MIT List Visual Arts Center︎︎︎Nurture Empathy for the Earth ︎︎︎This Too Shall Pass&nbsp; ︎︎︎Bauhaus Study Rooms Symposium&nbsp;︎︎︎The Loss of Green: Imaging Vegetal Worlds WRITING ---------------- From Gardens to Techno-Utopia:&nbsp;The Funambulist On Exhaustive Rifts, a Conversation with fields harrington On Image Metabolisms, Bauhaus Taschenbuch #26 The Journey of the Hairy Fruit &nbsp;in Hypotheses https://nancyvalladares.com/ABOUT Thu, 15 May 2025 15:55:44 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/ABOUT BIO Nancy Dayanne Valladares (b.1991) is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker and educator from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. &nbsp;Her image-based practice delves into the formation of optical tools and their accompanying visual regimes. Nancy’s practice closely examines photography’s historical entanglement with botanical imaginaries and chemical legacies. Valladares completed her Bachelor in Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Masters of Science in Art, Culture and Technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Valladares was recently a Fellow at Harvard University’s Film Studies Center, A Fialkow Fellow from the Transmedia Storytelling Initiative at MIT, and a resident at the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau in Germany. Her work has been exhibited &nbsp;and screened at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sakiya (Palestine), Weisner Gallery, Chuquimarca Projects, Sullivan Galleries, Goethe Institute, Bauhaus Dessau, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Ralph Arnold Gallery. Nancy lives and works in New York.&nbsp; CV available upon request SELECTED MEDIA AND PRESS ( Press )&nbsp;“Opal Pools of Milk and the Luzhin Defence: Review of This Too Shall Pass” by Annette Lepique,&nbsp; Sixty Inches from Center. ( Press )&nbsp;“How to talk to Ghosts” by Anya Ventura , Arts at MIT. ( Online talk) &nbsp;“PHOTO/SYNTHETIC: Plants and the Metabolic Image”, part of the series Practicing the Environment at the New School organized by Fields Harrington. (Symposium) Vegetation Under Power at Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, In conversation with Elizabeth Hong and Caroline Ektander.&nbsp; ( Online talk) “The Loss of Green: Imaging Vegetal Worlds”,&nbsp; in conversation with Shireen Hamza and Semine Long-Callesen, Weisner Gallery, MIT. ( Online Talk ) “The Tactical Gardens” artist talk at Goethe Institut Chicago with Jennifer Boles, Valeria Meiller and Agustin Schang, curated by Joshi Radin and Alberto Ortega. (Press) Alumni Feature, ACT Distact, MIT(Panelist) Sound, Air, Earth at Urbano Project, in conversation with Erin Genia and Nicole L’Huillier&nbsp; (Panelist) Quantum Unlearning Symposium, School of the Art Institute of Chicago https://nancyvalladares.com/CONTACT Thu, 15 May 2025 15:55:44 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/CONTACT HELLO, LET’S BE IN TOUCH. ︎ EMAIL ME ︎&nbsp; &nbsp; https://nancyvalladares.com/Teaching Tue, 20 May 2025 13:29:58 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/Teaching Nancy Valladares | Artist, Researcher &amp; Educator NANCY VALLADARES&nbsp; Artist, researcher and educator from Honduras currently based in New York.&nbsp; I’m currently researching the networks and flows of image making, and their accompanying technological regimes. Alongside Hsurae, I run Lythologies.org a decentralized research group interested in climate futures and new ecological imaginaries. I teach at parsons Design and Technology and Integrated Design.&nbsp; Find me on Are.na Teaching At the center of my pedagogical approach is a methodology that can be summarized by Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida: “Whatever it grants to vision and whatever its manner, a photograph is always invisible: it is not it that we see”. I first encountered this idea as a student of photography and film, and it has continued to expand in meaning as my practice grew to encompass other forms of media: from the synthetic and generative image, to games and creative tech. In the networked era, Barthes' insight is both a call to think about materialism, and simultaneously open critical dialogue through complexity. Throughout history, the mechanisms that define our image-centric society have remained largely invisible to us: whether by hiding its modes of production, submerged political economies, or hidden technological labor. My teaching departs from this returning invisibility. Parsons Design and Technology2026&nbsp; &nbsp; Thesis Studio II, Cloud Salon: Design for the Senses 2025 &nbsp; &nbsp;Major Studio I, Thesis Studio II &nbsp;&nbsp; 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Creative Technology Studio: Systems, Major Studio I,&nbsp;Narrative and Dynamic Systems 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Thesis Studio I, Creative Technology Studio: Systems, Narrative and Dynamic Systems 2022&nbsp; &nbsp; Thesis Studio I&nbsp;Parsons Integrated Design2024 &nbsp;&nbsp; Integrated Design Studio I, Creatives and Entrepreneurs 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Integrated Design Studio II2022&nbsp; &nbsp; Integrated Design Studio IAre.na: On Pedagogy&nbsp; https://nancyvalladares.com/INFO Tue, 20 May 2025 14:01:40 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/INFO Nancy Valladares | Artist, Researcher &amp; Educator <img width="1000" height="1400" width_o="1000" height_o="1400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ec1cdf7aa8c91fe043ae907e1eec47b291029470be6218d001c5c32a2045455/Nancy_Valladares2_Angeline_Simon-Web.jpg" data-mid="244946183" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6ec1cdf7aa8c91fe043ae907e1eec47b291029470be6218d001c5c32a2045455/Nancy_Valladares2_Angeline_Simon-Web.jpg" /> ︎ Get in touch:&nbsp;nancyvalla (at) proton.me ︎ I’m on Are.na About Long Bio: Nancy Dayanne Valladares is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker and educator currently based in New York. Born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Nancy’s practice is deeply influenced by the construction of Honduran national identity through botanical and agricultural regimes. Trained as a photographer and filmmaker, her practice examines the networks and flows of image making, and their technopolitics: from sensors, to servers, to precious metal extraction and the carbon intensive footprint of the cloud. Valladares was a resident at Triangle Arts Association and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, and received fellowships at Harvard University’s Film Studies Center and the Transmedia Storytelling Initiative at MIT. Nancy’s work has been exhibited and screened at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge; Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Sakiya Foundation, Ramallah; Goethe Institute Chicago; Ralph Arnold Gallery, Chicago; Microscope Gallery in New York, and Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin in Canada. Nancy is Assistant Professor of Design and Technology at Parsons, The New School.&nbsp; Alongside Hsurae, Nancy runs Lythologies.org a decentralized research group interested in climate futures and new ecological imaginaries. Their collaborative practice emerges from pedagogical experiments, cooking sessions, and art workshops held in the high desert and the arctic: sites of geologic and temporal frictions.&nbsp;With the support of cultural organizations in Taiwan and the US they have built a network of collaborators that are deeply invested in telling stories about climate and the environment. &nbsp;Collaborative works and workshops have been exhibited at MIT, Maxxi, RIXC Arts and Science Festival, Fab Cafe Taipei, Parsons (The New School),&nbsp;Artica Svalbard, and National Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (NTMOFA). https://nancyvalladares.com/WORKS Thu, 15 May 2025 15:55:42 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/WORKS <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f549f3078e722fea05814351bf1467216d20d71cd501dc964d59844253bfabee/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00015.jpg" data-mid="248851937" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f549f3078e722fea05814351bf1467216d20d71cd501dc964d59844253bfabee/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00015.jpg" />Kerogen Dreams, 2025 <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1b2367fdd11cd7109f788fd067f1c2923204f08c54602ef75a3b504de8e849f7/IMG_0818-3.JPG" data-mid="245039117" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1b2367fdd11cd7109f788fd067f1c2923204f08c54602ef75a3b504de8e849f7/IMG_0818-3.JPG" />Stories Written by the Sky, 2025 <img width="2400" height="1359" width_o="2400" height_o="1359" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8b97b8aca5acd55f2e310cabaae34c4da84f673729c26671fc610da36bf56eb0/SAAG_NancyValladares_06-2.jpg" data-mid="245035423" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8b97b8aca5acd55f2e310cabaae34c4da84f673729c26671fc610da36bf56eb0/SAAG_NancyValladares_06-2.jpg" /> Image Metabolisms, 2025 <img width="1337" height="888" width_o="1337" height_o="888" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/be50f20224f017d0925040760021cf439bd49bf2b2f8bbc9b14f1c63573854b9/Screenshot-2025-05-19-at-4.47.38PM.png" data-mid="233605421" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/be50f20224f017d0925040760021cf439bd49bf2b2f8bbc9b14f1c63573854b9/Screenshot-2025-05-19-at-4.47.38PM.png" /> MIT List Projects 27: On Exhaustive Rifts&nbsp; <img width="2835" height="1890" width_o="2835" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7341a1474a1dfaf1ff0c49be0e406ad41ebce5971a4751e02a539591d5341475/Valladares_nancy_03.jpeg" data-mid="233605406" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7341a1474a1dfaf1ff0c49be0e406ad41ebce5971a4751e02a539591d5341475/Valladares_nancy_03.jpeg" />Photo / Synthetic, 2022 <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7bf442ac5319bae80bc96e98417bb96612716d1de83c2a10f58fb0cc72049e0d/A-Wood-Fire-Is-A-Tree-in-Reverse.jpg" data-mid="233604287" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7bf442ac5319bae80bc96e98417bb96612716d1de83c2a10f58fb0cc72049e0d/A-Wood-Fire-Is-A-Tree-in-Reverse.jpg" />A Wood Fire is a Tree in Reverse, 2021 <img width="1166" height="651" width_o="1166" height_o="651" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1863a82db8acff3a8f5d209b821024ddd322b04eccfc2a2919de909a9e205d86/Screenshot-2025-05-23-at-10.25.17AM.png" data-mid="233601020" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1863a82db8acff3a8f5d209b821024ddd322b04eccfc2a2919de909a9e205d86/Screenshot-2025-05-23-at-10.25.17AM.png" />The Density of Breath, 2020 <img width="1172" height="781" width_o="1172" height_o="781" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ac350e41e85c488f7ca58cd1132336e1d2b8106081c8f89ec2a6ac5daff474bc/djulis001-2-1172x781.jpeg" data-mid="233600810" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ac350e41e85c488f7ca58cd1132336e1d2b8106081c8f89ec2a6ac5daff474bc/djulis001-2-1172x781.jpeg" />&nbsp;Film, Exhibition:&nbsp;3000 Years Among Microbes, 2019-2021 <img width="1893" height="1064" width_o="1893" height_o="1064" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4e87e44ea59ba46f04467c0ba5b2dcebe192924d90c119ae21a10ff0fff23400/BotGhost_1.jpeg" data-mid="233600777" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4e87e44ea59ba46f04467c0ba5b2dcebe192924d90c119ae21a10ff0fff23400/BotGhost_1.jpeg" />Botanical Ghosts, 2018-2020 <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4b734fbfb10e812eafcf5f8016d3ce04f8464c38094a156a8d4829cc01a088a2/Vallares_4-Movement2.png" data-mid="233600590" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4b734fbfb10e812eafcf5f8016d3ce04f8464c38094a156a8d4829cc01a088a2/Vallares_4-Movement2.png" />&nbsp;Film:&nbsp;Four Movement and the Birth of The Sun, 2017 <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c31b4d7f4a68028df33bcc9821f224fe7349bb307106c4cff7d913a111422db7/Weightofwater2.jpg" data-mid="233600516" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c31b4d7f4a68028df33bcc9821f224fe7349bb307106c4cff7d913a111422db7/Weightofwater2.jpg" /> Installation: The Weight of Water, Sustained by My Spine, 2015 https://nancyvalladares.com/Kerogen-Dreams Thu, 28 May 2026 16:08:25 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/Kerogen-Dreams Kerogen Dreams2025&nbsp; HD Video, 11:29:00Soundtrack by Haamid Rahim From silver and lithium, to coltan, bitumen and coal, contemporary life is shaped by minerals and precious metals that sustain techno-capitalism. Kerogen Dreams is a mythological retelling of the entangling of photographic history, extraction, and&nbsp; fossil fuels. Kerogen, the ghost of compressed bone and ancient forests, narrates it’s own birth and the development of two parallel technologies. Commissioned by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin as part of a solo exhibition, Image Metabolisms, it was produced through a variety of media: modeled environments, mining landscapes of Alberta's coal country, microscopic footage of coal collected in Germany, video from an arctic coal mine turned data archive, and a mine in the artist's home country of Honduras. The film was produced amid growing concerns about energy production and the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, as the entangled systems sustaining modern life began visibly shifting. The film emerged from her time in Alberta, while visiting Crowsnest Pass Museum, Nancy encountered a diagram titled "What does Mankind Owe to Coal?", mapping the political economy of coal in Alberta in the early 20th century. The drawing reveals how deeply ancient compressed life is woven into the products and chemical processes of today, from tar to cotton dyes to perfumes. This prompted the question of the debt accrued from future generations, through an insistence on carbon reliance.&nbsp;Upcoming Screenings Double Takes: ARAVARAA rotating audiovisual exhibition in collaboration with LL ProyectosCurated by Yina Jiménez Suriel June 4 – 21, 2026Museo para la Identidad Nacional (MIN)Antiguo Palacio de los Ministerios, Calle El Telégrafo, Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán, Honduras June 28 – September 13, 2026National Gallery of JamaicaBLOCK C, Kingston Mall, 12 Ocean Blvd, Kingston, Jamaica W.I. <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8af0ed7fbf22292f80762404e94b35abe5479fb000f3f87784e4a964a94fd79e/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00001.jpg" data-mid="248851781" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8af0ed7fbf22292f80762404e94b35abe5479fb000f3f87784e4a964a94fd79e/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00001.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ff7c4e661ee981b31d45bd6c74483f0c6807d398d222a291dbba5d56ed1c247b/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00002.jpg" data-mid="248851782" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ff7c4e661ee981b31d45bd6c74483f0c6807d398d222a291dbba5d56ed1c247b/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00002.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9d04e840b5167c2261b0eb5d1a8a5d0cd51618f3d76c9951f51a1fea38e78f54/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00003.jpg" data-mid="248851783" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9d04e840b5167c2261b0eb5d1a8a5d0cd51618f3d76c9951f51a1fea38e78f54/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00003.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/146dee03f587da3aad3dfdc16ffec786b8a6322fdcff1c04602436363623d575/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00004.jpg" data-mid="248851784" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/146dee03f587da3aad3dfdc16ffec786b8a6322fdcff1c04602436363623d575/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00004.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3ea90adf8e32629ae00ec1be66ddf0a9e09056d99646b7786f8a6e8ddff3992e/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00005.jpg" data-mid="248851785" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3ea90adf8e32629ae00ec1be66ddf0a9e09056d99646b7786f8a6e8ddff3992e/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00005.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8be60fcf1eaed3285b28a1b942678edc05b01f3d3beb7ee46cae422d56d2cc26/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00008.jpg" data-mid="248851788" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8be60fcf1eaed3285b28a1b942678edc05b01f3d3beb7ee46cae422d56d2cc26/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00008.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9c2fc27b23fff570ca8e76551def4786c58d2e9fc4665e3396ffd8c84f7c12a3/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00006.jpg" data-mid="248851786" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9c2fc27b23fff570ca8e76551def4786c58d2e9fc4665e3396ffd8c84f7c12a3/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00006.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/acef75e01f7b7cd7cf60796cbc77329d91fb7ea5d435663fde1e5ca5dbbb4348/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00007.jpg" data-mid="248851787" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/acef75e01f7b7cd7cf60796cbc77329d91fb7ea5d435663fde1e5ca5dbbb4348/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00007.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed64d65bf0b33f81f1c2f06af5e15a6671bb886856d5f362562e9c0cd361f232/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00011.jpg" data-mid="248851791" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed64d65bf0b33f81f1c2f06af5e15a6671bb886856d5f362562e9c0cd361f232/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00011.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/98ce1025cbcf841512c1f75f1fc4e8b64291498150f9798c9dd7fe6e69a0bad3/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00013.jpg" data-mid="248851793" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/98ce1025cbcf841512c1f75f1fc4e8b64291498150f9798c9dd7fe6e69a0bad3/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00013.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1988e4589ebe6adc1445dc87f35949615844d04d534728b209d86e20a7a3f532/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00012.jpg" data-mid="248851792" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1988e4589ebe6adc1445dc87f35949615844d04d534728b209d86e20a7a3f532/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00012.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8bf90d359e52a675ca28f532b4e9ece0a27fe8b087a3a628a8ec8dee41e7cb49/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00010.jpg" data-mid="248851790" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8bf90d359e52a675ca28f532b4e9ece0a27fe8b087a3a628a8ec8dee41e7cb49/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00010.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c89d906f48e972d6ba67406398068d01373d4964c5ae4869bdd79b62fe0eab62/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00009.jpg" data-mid="248851789" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c89d906f48e972d6ba67406398068d01373d4964c5ae4869bdd79b62fe0eab62/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00009.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f549f3078e722fea05814351bf1467216d20d71cd501dc964d59844253bfabee/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00015.jpg" data-mid="248851795" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f549f3078e722fea05814351bf1467216d20d71cd501dc964d59844253bfabee/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00015.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/66130989738790d25604c6f394b0d32984ede2de5c70a782260a29dae14b15d9/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00014.jpg" data-mid="248851794" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/66130989738790d25604c6f394b0d32984ede2de5c70a782260a29dae14b15d9/Nancy_Valladares_Kerogen_Dreams00014.jpg" /> ( Installation View, Image Credit: Blaine Campbell ) <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8024eac8f10e01bf62ef163f4954954fb7387d5ba9c121ec819b6bb28fd0bc75/SAAG_NancyValladares_21.jpg" data-mid="248851771" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8024eac8f10e01bf62ef163f4954954fb7387d5ba9c121ec819b6bb28fd0bc75/SAAG_NancyValladares_21.jpg" /> ︎ Next Project ︎︎︎ https://nancyvalladares.com/Stories-Written-by-the-Sky Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:03:15 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/Stories-Written-by-the-Sky Stories Written by the Sky Oct. 25, 2025 - Dec. 14, 2025National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts ( NTMOFA )&nbsp; Taichung, Taiwan <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6d77ecbb1d5ba8e9189d6eaae55b13cd3b4faa43effeabb761bf26274b34266d/IMG_0819-4.JPG" data-mid="245038724" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6d77ecbb1d5ba8e9189d6eaae55b13cd3b4faa43effeabb761bf26274b34266d/IMG_0819-4.JPG" />( Installation View, Image Credit: NTMOFA ) Stories Written by the Sky ( SWBTS ) is an immersive interactive installation by Lythologies, a decentralized research group working at the intersection of climate storytelling and emerging media. The work emerged from a search for a cinema of fragmentation: a search for a form capable of holding the complexity that arises amid climate collapse and where linear narrative feels insufficient. <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4d61f13a6a8e87375e3b00a43299bcfcee6f780afcf03ed3dac57b97a8193f9/IMG_0829-2.JPG" data-mid="245038755" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b4d61f13a6a8e87375e3b00a43299bcfcee6f780afcf03ed3dac57b97a8193f9/IMG_0829-2.JPG" /><img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ef6fa668b67350de5cb2e7c7e15325929cfdb584e05db1129aef9e2523c545a7/IMG_0830-2.JPG" data-mid="245038757" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ef6fa668b67350de5cb2e7c7e15325929cfdb584e05db1129aef9e2523c545a7/IMG_0830-2.JPG" /> Shot in 360 Video, this project began as an experiment in open-world storytelling in cinema. It evolved through extensive collaboration with Loftwork Taiwan ( Paul Yeh ), Haamid Rahim and HWH studio, and the support of National Taiwan Museum of Fine arts, turning into an immersive experience that tests the limits of interaction in 360 environments. <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85c193b3ca03a7109916c9839896ef170cb24f13f2181ef6cad0ca259ca2a76a/IMG_0818-3.JPG" data-mid="245038783" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/85c193b3ca03a7109916c9839896ef170cb24f13f2181ef6cad0ca259ca2a76a/IMG_0818-3.JPG" /> At its core, SWBTS is an interface of narrative tiles ( fragments of poetry, sound, and 360° footage ) that audiences recombine into short films through participation. No single arrangement completes the work; rather each reassembly opens onto the next, producing a collective, non-linear spiral in which meaning remains perpetually in formation. The work asks: how do we locate ourselves within deep time? How do we process collective climate grief?&nbsp; The Narrative Recombination framework combines M5 Stack IOT, Unity, TouchDesigner, and Reaper. It is fully spatialized in 16.5 audio and designed to evolve, adapt, and receive new stories over time. We think of Stories Written by the Sky as a living framework — one that will continue to evolve as new collaborators, landscapes, and communities bring their own fragments into the archive. Visit Lythologies.org to learn more about SWBTS! ︎︎︎ Previous Project ︎ Next Project ︎︎︎ https://nancyvalladares.com/Image-Metabolisms Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:33:42 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/Image-Metabolisms Image MetabolismsNOV. 1, 2025 - MAR. 28, 2026The Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin, CA Exhibition Text by Adam Whitford <img width="2400" height="1359" width_o="2400" height_o="1359" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0f856c67e6c3fc0f8b8093883c1c728673a02bd4d90ab4f3b5e9dbea0d2b37b1/SAAG_NancyValladares_06-2.jpg" data-mid="245035115" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0f856c67e6c3fc0f8b8093883c1c728673a02bd4d90ab4f3b5e9dbea0d2b37b1/SAAG_NancyValladares_06-2.jpg" /> ( Installation View, Image Credit: Blaine Campbell ) In her first solo exhibition, Valladares uncovers the interwoven systems of corporate, chemical, and extractive processes that enable visual culture. Each material in Image Metabolisms is a node in the interconnected web between photography and fossil fuels. Asphalt, bitumen, video, sound, fountains, and lavender oil form a constellation of matter that visualizes the concealed network of extraction. Witnessing these material and economic relationships is often surprising since, “In Canada, colonial society works hard to obscure and erase the presence of… weaponised ancient fossil kin from the consciousness of settlers….”¹ <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8024eac8f10e01bf62ef163f4954954fb7387d5ba9c121ec819b6bb28fd0bc75/SAAG_NancyValladares_21.jpg" data-mid="245035326" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8024eac8f10e01bf62ef163f4954954fb7387d5ba9c121ec819b6bb28fd0bc75/SAAG_NancyValladares_21.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1359" width_o="2400" height_o="1359" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a6b34370064b6e6e35799fcfa4e39d7852e3da5bb218d13420d37e60e7f889e7/SAAG_NancyValladares_34.jpg" data-mid="245035327" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a6b34370064b6e6e35799fcfa4e39d7852e3da5bb218d13420d37e60e7f889e7/SAAG_NancyValladares_34.jpg" /> As the Gallery’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence at the Gushul Studio in Blairmore, AB, Valladares researched both the historical and current scale of industrial coal and bitumen extraction in the Crowsnest Pass and across Alberta. While at a museum in the Crowsnest Pass, Valladares encountered a diagram titled “What Mankind Owes to a Lump of Coal” that is partly reproduced in the gallery. Beginning with coal and expanding out in a complex web, the drawing depicts just how intertwined ancient life is in the products and chemical processes of today, composing anything from tar, to cotton dyes, and perfumes. <img width="2400" height="1374" width_o="2400" height_o="1374" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c328a40c99ee30aece118da6d5386991690106d6aa9decc56395d16ce116b6e2/SAAG_NancyValladares_35.jpg" data-mid="245035329" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c328a40c99ee30aece118da6d5386991690106d6aa9decc56395d16ce116b6e2/SAAG_NancyValladares_35.jpg" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3e8d99ddb02b090cf1f7a14e092779977d93fd1c6cd7d4209d7ad2a535967d07/SAAG_NancyValladares_36.jpg" data-mid="245035330" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3e8d99ddb02b090cf1f7a14e092779977d93fd1c6cd7d4209d7ad2a535967d07/SAAG_NancyValladares_36.jpg" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/78e552219f37849f51be400e9576c30b5b76c575c9aec5472376224de576790e/SAAG_NancyValladares_43.jpg" data-mid="245035332" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/78e552219f37849f51be400e9576c30b5b76c575c9aec5472376224de576790e/SAAG_NancyValladares_43.jpg" /> Coal and bitumen have been tied to image-making from the start. The process termed Heliography (from the Greek helios, meaning “sun”, and graphein, meaning “writing”) by French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833) was used to create the oldest surviving photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras (c. 1826–27). The Heliograph used Bitumen of Judea, a naturally occurring asphalt, mixed with lavender oil and exposed to sunlight through a camera obscura. The UV light hardens the bitumen mixture onto a metal plate, rendering it insoluble. The first photograph was quite literally inscribed in fossil fuels.² Niépce, along with his brother Claude, were already quite familiar with combustion and hydrocarbons. In their work as inventors, they also produced the world’s first internal combustion engine nearly 20 years prior. <img width="1599" height="2400" width_o="1599" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fbeeb6f854037016e651a76125581eeb98e6c555f961651e59b84cd445bae849/SAAG_NancyValladares_46.jpg" data-mid="245035406" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fbeeb6f854037016e651a76125581eeb98e6c555f961651e59b84cd445bae849/SAAG_NancyValladares_46.jpg" /> In dialogue with the entangling of photographic history, extraction, and the mythology of fossil fuels, Valladares creates images in a process similar to Niépce’s Heliographs. Small metal plates, coated with bitumen, bare the faint traces of southern Alberta landscapes and the traces left by the coal mining industry. Valladares’ dialogue with the origins of photography brings to light the oft forgotten connections between image-making and the combustion of buried life. In this instance, the camera and the combustion engine are not so different. Both are contained systems, exposing fossil fuels to fire (whether that of the sun or the combustion chamber) to achieve the desired result. Valladares’ photos are membranes of “buried sunshine”. Once dug up, this petrochemical ancient life undergoes a kind of double exposure, formed by the sun in its first life to be reconstituted onto a plate millions of years in the future for the sun to alter its form once again. <img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7f9219ec6e20e5f4a2fbc0eb2a787f6edce2aa03d7c06ee640d5828bd50b8fbb/SAAG_NancyValladares_56.jpg" data-mid="245035411" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7f9219ec6e20e5f4a2fbc0eb2a787f6edce2aa03d7c06ee640d5828bd50b8fbb/SAAG_NancyValladares_56.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a541d2b391ca525eeab7c0b0b6f2191e60538129a12f781befd4f84fc8b088f1/SAAG_NancyValladares_54.jpg" data-mid="245035409" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a541d2b391ca525eeab7c0b0b6f2191e60538129a12f781befd4f84fc8b088f1/SAAG_NancyValladares_54.jpg" /> Shaping movement through the gallery, soil is piled and raked into shapes that simultaneously recall rock gardens and the scars of the strip mine. Around the stepped and terraced earth, bundles of lavender are placed in votive offerings, gestures of appreciation for the ancient fossilized life that has fueled photography and innumerous other chemical processes. The lavender’s floral scent, enhanced by lavender oil in a trickling fountain, diffuses Niépce’s original developer into the atmosphere of the exhibition. Curated by Adam Whitford, Curator &amp; Exhibitions ManagerPreparators: Arianna Richardson (Lead Preparator), Rachael Chaisson, D. Hoffos Exhibition Modeling:&nbsp; Daniel Reyes Sanders Sound Design: Haamid Rahim ( Blank Works Studios )&nbsp; ︎︎︎ Previous Project ︎ Next Project ︎︎︎ https://nancyvalladares.com/Photo-synthetic Thu, 15 May 2025 15:55:45 +0000 Nancy D Valladares https://nancyvalladares.com/Photo-synthetic PHOTO/SYNTHETIC ( 2021-23)&nbsp; Photo/Synthetic is an ongoing artistic investigation into the the material ecologies of the photographic industry, that traces the networks, material flows and chemo-socialities that emerge from it’s production. <img width="2835" height="1890" width_o="2835" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/467b5659c6388331abb382147fba75543c09e0321501c6e14151f2b86be34306/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-4.jpeg" data-mid="233248478" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/467b5659c6388331abb382147fba75543c09e0321501c6e14151f2b86be34306/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-4.jpeg" /> <img width="1300" height="773" width_o="1300" height_o="773" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de5b8d8501d954d0cbdfe0de89540f080c3798519eeae5699671649e0b9270d3/Extraction1.jpg" data-mid="233248495" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de5b8d8501d954d0cbdfe0de89540f080c3798519eeae5699671649e0b9270d3/Extraction1.jpg" /> <img width="2835" height="1890" width_o="2835" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7341a1474a1dfaf1ff0c49be0e406ad41ebce5971a4751e02a539591d5341475/Valladares_nancy_03.jpeg" data-mid="233248493" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7341a1474a1dfaf1ff0c49be0e406ad41ebce5971a4751e02a539591d5341475/Valladares_nancy_03.jpeg" /> Silver particles extracted from Black and White photographic film.&nbsp; This project began during a residency in the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in Germany, where along a group of researchers, designers and architects, I was introduced to the history of the AGFA/ORWO Film factory. I encountered emerging research that addressed the ecological footprint of photography and the indelible traces it has left behind on the surface of the earth. <img width="2836" height="1890" width_o="2836" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/51390739f52ba6a5e8985683fa360541fbee627a73ee98b1dd33f6043fe28629/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-14.jpeg" data-mid="233248489" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/51390739f52ba6a5e8985683fa360541fbee627a73ee98b1dd33f6043fe28629/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-14.jpeg" /> <img width="2836" height="1890" width_o="2836" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/422b51dc87f3d8119ff841eff78e6523cb8410b4962653020b9d62ea967ab444/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-16.jpeg" data-mid="233248491" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/422b51dc87f3d8119ff841eff78e6523cb8410b4962653020b9d62ea967ab444/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-16.jpeg" /> <img width="2835" height="1890" width_o="2835" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b05c575333c7812229febef2f0418453efbff0bd7d0c1d7fe898d5137f83d9f6/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-13.jpeg" data-mid="233248488" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b05c575333c7812229febef2f0418453efbff0bd7d0c1d7fe898d5137f83d9f6/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-13.jpeg" /> <img width="2835" height="1890" width_o="2835" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/efd6b2690bae70a2898d4677e8403e36cbbef0e622d04ebf468c9b833dda779f/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-9.jpeg" data-mid="233248484" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/efd6b2690bae70a2898d4677e8403e36cbbef0e622d04ebf468c9b833dda779f/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-9.jpeg" /> <img width="3008" height="2005" width_o="3008" height_o="2005" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9902c19ab8608ee3b94e8f08b36f410d34972c0d45b340d1fcfcb56a1f84e878/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-1.jpeg" data-mid="233248475" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9902c19ab8608ee3b94e8f08b36f410d34972c0d45b340d1fcfcb56a1f84e878/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-1.jpeg" /> <img width="2835" height="1890" width_o="2835" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5bb12b84aa1df7eebebc7e950e3d3a856e699e595e91239343549d66e6e2c360/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-2.jpeg" data-mid="233248476" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5bb12b84aa1df7eebebc7e950e3d3a856e699e595e91239343549d66e6e2c360/Photostyntethic-Loyola-GwenMadden-2.jpeg" /> Installation view at Ralph Arnold Gallery, Loyola University, Chicago 2022. Photography by Gwen Madden I think of Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida when he writes, “Whatever it grants to vision and whatever its manner, a photograph is always invisible: it is not it that we see”. Seen through a material historical context, this quote gains a different meaning: indeed, the mechanisms, structures, networks, and flows of a photograph are designed to remain unseen. Nonetheless, each film grain or pixel hints at an interesting&nbsp; function of photographs in our largely vision-centric society: that of images as deeply networked artifacts that drive our consumption and capital. It’s here where I’d like to engage with&nbsp; the environmental and economic effects of silver extraction, as one of the forces that helped image-centric paradigms proliferate. When we consider the vibrant materials that have been used to produce analogue film— from the trees used to make celluloid, the crushed cattle bone used to create gelatin, to the silver and gold extracted for silver photographic emulsion— every single molecule of matter used to make an image, is intertwined with someone’s labor. In essence, each frame or snapshot has an environmental cost, but who or what pays for this cost remains hidden beneath the ideological occlusions of photography. <img width="2778" height="845" width_o="2778" height_o="845" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/047ce75de5258f732e486fa447f7178f583c3ab82a4b7d4410bb082dc6d08edd/Silver3.jpg" data-mid="233248492" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/047ce75de5258f732e486fa447f7178f583c3ab82a4b7d4410bb082dc6d08edd/Silver3.jpg" /> &nbsp; ︎︎︎ Previous Project Next Project ︎︎︎