At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I began a series using Self-Portrait as a tool to investigate my mental state. I was diagnosed with PTSD and started recording my days on Polaroids through Emulsion Lifts. I had the impetus to transform the image with my own hands. If I don't like an idea, why don't I like it? And if I deconstruct her whole, what does she become? The result has been therapeutic. Deconstructing a self-portrait was the beginning of a path of deep self-knowledge, as I felt the need to overflow into a physical, material format.
Bruna Valença is a 32-year-old photographer and visual artist. Her production is focused on self- portraits based on studies about the body and her psyche, relating the transience of her mental states with Hybrid Photography, where the loss of control and the freedom to make mistakes become tools in her process.
Awards People's Choice Award with most voted portfolio by See.Me Institution, 2010
Silver Award - Budapest International Foto Awards, 2021
Honorable Mention - 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, 2021
Silver Award - Tokyo International Foto Awards, 2020
Part of Rotlicht Festival 2022 exhibiting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Museumquartier
Part of Rotterdam Photo Festival 2023
