AN INTERVIEW WITH CLARA HERRERO ON STILL LIFE, PHOTOGRAPHY AND EVERYDAY LIFE
Clara Herrero, a recent graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Salamanca and with a year of training at the University of Granada, began her artistic practice through photography, and without abandoning it, she has progressed toward painting, exploring different graphic techniques. The use of biographical objects and archives resources is addressed in every single one of her series, a recurring motif.
While in her graduate project, «Encuentro / acto reunir», the artist works around the idea of collage painting and the understanding of painting as still life, sketch and collage; in «El desván», a joint curatorial exhibition with Ruth Jimenez in Salaseis of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Salamanca, they created a composition of their artworks reflecting still life as a pictorial genre and highlighting its function as memory and symbolic narrative. Her last project, «Los días», part of CreaVA 2025, revolves around the intimacy of the landscape and how nature can accompany the transition from childhood to youth through photographs set in a specific location over several summers between 2019 and 2024.
Álvaro Ramos: How has your training in Salamanca and Granada influenced your development as an artist?
Clara Herrero: In Salamanca, I started to get interested and try things I hadn’t even considered yet. I entered without having any clear idea, but meeting other people who were similarly involved has been an incredible experience. I hadn’t touched on painting at all in high school, so that was my first exposure. I only spent one year in Granada and tried to make the most of what I could. I learned how to develop and was able to focus heavily on photography, but above all, I’ll take away from having lived in that city, beyond the academic aspect.
AR: You started with photography and then moved on to painting and other graphic techniques. How was that transition between languages?
CH: Entering a degree program forces you to learn a little bit of everything, and then you choose whether you want to understand more about one thing or another. I ultimately specialized in painting because I thought continuing my education outside of my degree would be more unlikely. In Granada, I first explored different techniques like screen printing and riso printing, and I love being able to continue working with them from time to time.
AR: What led you to stick with photography despite expanding into other disciplines?
CH: For me, photography has always been about being with people or simply going out. It’s a much more social activity, at least in my practice, something that comes very naturally to me. At least in terms of production, for me, photography is much more carefree and less isolating, which keeps me photographing.
AR: What artists, movements, or non-artistic references do you feel have influenced your work?
CH: Well, all kinds of things, but in painting, I’d say my friends and studio colleagues. Seeing the work of people you know keeps you moving forward. Now that I’m not in college, I notice the lack of that a lot. If I have to mention big names, I think Morandi could be one of them during the last year, among many others.
AR: When working with various languages, such as photography, painting, and graphic techniques, how do you decide which one to use for each project?
CH: I constantly think about what differentiates them for me. I’ve wanted to distance photography from painting because, for me, they are radically different processes. As I said, photography is something related to the outdoors, and painting is something more focused. In painting, my goal right now is to improve technically, since I feel I’m still just starting out. With photography, I try to think of more specific projects, so depending on that, different interests arise that fit one language or another. I haven’t been doing this for that long, and I think I’ll keep discovering.
AR: Is there a specific methodology behind how you incorporate archives into your pieces, or is it more freeform?
CH: I started working with diverse materials, including archives, precisely to establish a specific way of working and play with it. Methodologically, I found it interesting to paint from models built with collage-like resources, such as assemblage or the superposition of objects. I understand reference not as something immutable, but as something that can be intervened, perforated, or adapted to a kind of outline of an «expected result.»
AR: Has there been any technical or conceptual discovery that has marked a before and after in your way of working?
CH: It’s not that it’s a discovery as such in that sense, but having a fixed space to work outside the home, being able to accumulate all kinds of materials and junk there. I think it would be that, the importance of having a space where you can go to work whenever you want.
AR: Regarding your final degree project, what motivated you to start Encuentro/acto de asamblea (“Encuentro / acto reunir”)? What was the emotional or conceptual starting point?
CH: The works were based on the still life genre in its broadest sense and on that methodology I mentioned. It was the first time I had to consider having a set of works that had a connection, and I wanted it to emerge naturally. Although these ideas were gaining importance, from the beginning my main motivation was to practice until I could feel a little more comfortable in the painting process, without necessarily relying on a discourse.
AR: You talk about painting as «still life, schema, and collage.» How do these three approaches intertwine in your process?
CH: As I said, it’s about presenting collage as a form of still life. Both involve an act of bringing together (colors, shapes, rhythms, etc.) and describing how they interact with each other, whether for reasons of composition, symbolism, or the intervention of chance.
AR: What role do physical models and images play in the creation of the works? Are they considered tools, works in themselves, or something in between?
CH: They were references for the works, but later they’ve helped me complement some of them, for example, in the exhibition we held at the faculty’s Salaseis. It’s something I like to see in other people’s work, so it was natural that I wanted to try it on my own.
AR: What interests you about exploring the idea of «still life» in a contemporary context?
CH: It allowed me to resort to repetition, painting the same motifs many times (flowers, fabrics, different materials) and seeing where it took me. But as I said, in the end, I was dealing with an idea of still life closer to self-reference and to the painting space itself as a place of action. There’s an exchange from the table to the wall and from the house to the studio. Still life, as a genre, historically also functions as memory and symbolic narrative, and that interested me.
AR: At what point do you decide a work is finished, especially when working with such procedural elements?
CH: With my limited experience, I would say when you reach a point where you don’t completely hate it. For these early works, I set the «condition» of painting primarily from life because I felt that with photographic references I was overthinking what I was doing, so I think that can help you avoid stagnating and move on to the next thing.
AR: How did the idea of documenting the summers in Cogeces de Íscar come about? Was it a conscious decision from the beginning or something that emerged over time?
CH: Eighty percent of the photos I’ve taken in my life are in the summer, and there, because it was the time when I had time and could try different things, it makes sense to first do it in a familiar place. For me, it’s been like a rehearsal space, where I’ve learned a lot simply through pure practice.
AR: You mention that the project began as a natural record and gradually acquired a documentary intention. At what point did you feel that shift? What motivated it?
CH: These images are just a few from a larger series. I photographed over a few summers, and looking back, I realized that if I continued doing it longer, I could have a more consciously directed work. My motivation comes from living my own experiences and having fun photographing. The landscape and summer scenes have always been very evocative to me. To this day, I continue photographing these same subjects, trying to improve.
AR: How important is temporality in «Los días»? How is the passage of summers, ages, and the landscape visually reflected?
CH: Time is a key feature of all these photographs. It’s an open-ended series, and as I said, I want the years to continue passing and everything to have much more weight. Having a connection with the spaces and people, I want to document them in the way I like to remember them and give them meaning. They are friends and family with whom I have a relationship of trust, and I think that’s reflected.
AR: How do your own memory and personal experience influence the way you frame or select moments?
CH: In this case, the Cega River serves as the main setting for the story. This river acts as a meeting place and refuge from the heat, and it has been for all of us who descended there, both those who live in the town and those who spend the summer. That was the main motivation: to preserve that shared experience and, from my memory, to be aware of the changes in the landscape and the gestures and activities of those who appear in the images. I also think of it as a celebration of the years gone by, the memory of those who took us to that place when we were children.
AR: What led you to combine photography with risograph printing? What does this technique add to the visual narrative of the exhibition?
CH: In this case, the CreaVA organizers proposed it to me, and I was delighted to be able to do it, because initially it was only going to be a photographic print. Despite being a digital technique, risograph printing has slight variations between prints and a very material result. They have a slightly ghostly effect that works very well with the themes.
AR: Louise Glück’s text resonates deeply with the images. How does her poetry connect with your work? Was it a reference from the beginning or did it appear later?
CH: I don’t think I read it until last year, but when I did, it helped me a lot when thinking about this series. It speaks a lot specifically to themes of the river landscape, childhood, and common, routine experiences within groups of friends.
AR: What kind of story do you hope the viewer constructs as they walk through the exhibition? Is it important to you that they recognize that «charm» you speak of?
CH: The intention is that if you walk through the gallery in order, the photos have a chronological sense; the characters are repeated and grow in the images. There is a special focus on the years of transition from childhood to youth, with elements such as recreation and daydreaming. For me, photographs speak volumes about the charm of childhood, but at the same time, they have a touch of ambiguity; there’s a balance between brighter photographs and more unusual ones.
AR: What attracts you to curating and collaborative projects? Do you have any notable experiences you’d like to share?
CH: Mainly, not focusing solely on individual practice, but rather meeting more people and collaborating on projects that excite me. I was able (with help) to curate an exhibition of images and objects related to the festivities, traditions, and gathering spaces of Cogeces de Íscar. Many people lent me photos from their family albums and told me stories related to all this. The process of selecting photos, scanning, dating, and the resulting results were incredible. I felt that the exhibition and the catalog with all those images could be useful for the collective memory of the town.
AR: How do you imagine your artistic practice in the not-too-distant future?
CH: Being realistic, trying not to give up on things, and being open to whatever comes along.