Isadora Romero
Isadora Romero is an independent Ecuadorian visual storyteller based in Quito. Her work moves between documentary and artistic photography, exploring themes of social justice, gender, and the environment, with a particular focus on agrobiodiversity and the human relationship to land in Latin America. She is co-founder of Ruda, a collective of Latin American women photographers. Romero’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across Latin America, Europe, and Africa, and has received international recognition from institutions like World Press Photo, C/O Berlin, and Les Rencontres d’Arles.
Romero’s practice combines investigative depth with poetic experimentation. Her long-term projects examine how ancestral knowledge, colonial history, and environmental urgency intersect in contemporary Latin America. She often works across media—photography, archival material, sound, text, and participatory methodologies—to build layered narratives that center community collaboration. Her work also reflects on the materiality of the image itself, questioning the boundaries between art and documentation. Notable projects include a multi-year investigation into seed sovereignty and agrobiodiversity, as well as an ongoing project in Ecuador’s Chocó Andino cloud forests exploring ecological memory and human–forest coexistence.
Romero was invited to the Antarctic artistic residency organized by INAE and has presented her work at major venues including Les Rencontres d’Arles and C/O Berlin. She is the author of the photobook Movement, to See You, and co-author of Seven Point Eight. Her work is rooted in slow, ethical practices that foreground listening, mutual learning, and situated storytelling.
Romero’s work has earned numerous distinctions: the Discovery Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles (2023), the World Press Photo Open Format Global and Regional Award (2022), the After Nature Prize from C/O Berlin and the Ulrike Crespo Foundation (2024–25), the National Photography Award for Cultural Influence in Ecuador (2024), and the Premio Nacional de Artes Mariano Aguilera (2024–25). She also received the Marilyn Stafford Award (2021) and the multimedia award from POY Latam (2023), among others.
She has been selected for several prestigious fellowships, including the National Geographic Explorer Grant (2024–25), Prince Claus Fund’s Climate Change Response Grant (2022), Magnum Foundation’s Photography and Social Justice Fellowship (2021), and the Joop Swart Masterclass from World Press Photo (2020). In parallel to her artistic career, she serves as a juror and nominator for institutions such as World Press Photo, Prince Claus Fund, and Magnum Foundation. She is an active educator and speaker, and a member of Women Photograph, Diversify Photo, Foto Féminas, and Fotógrafos Ecuatorianos. Romero’s work consistently seeks to challenge dominant narratives about Latin America and propose new ways of seeing and relating—both with each other and with the land.
(SELECTED)
Movement, to See You (Severo Editorial, 2025), photobook launch and installation at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (Quito).
Fume, Root, Seed, solo exhibition at Neimenster (Luxembourg, 2025), part of the Discovery Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles (2023), also shown at LagosPhoto and Noorderlicht.
Notes on How to Build a Forest, upcoming solo exhibition at C/O Berlin (Sept. 2025).
La Maña del Bosque, installation at Centro Cultural Metropolitano (Quito, 2025).
Blood is a Seed, awarded by World Press Photo, screened in 45+ countries.
Seven Point Eight, co-authored photobook (RM Editorial, 2018)
