Daniela Libertad – Hay poder en lo pequeño (ENG)
Daniela Libertad
Mexico, 1983
The works by Daniela Libertad in drawing, photography and video, explore the several relations among geometric forms, objects and her own body, the perceptions on what is intangible, mystical and their connections with everyday life.
The artist investigates also on how sculptural dynamics are constructed and deposited into objects, in an effort to understand the relations of weight, tension and balance among materials, shapes and objects.
Her body of work pushes into tension the perceptions of what is both intangible and habitual. By using different media, the artist allows her work to confront immaterial elements and geometrical forms with common objects and her own body, exploring both the mystical and ethereal features of these components, and concrete aspects such as weight, density and touch. In these tension exercises, the artist unsettles the mixture between apparently opposite fields, between physical and mental or abstract and figurative, towards a stage of precarious balance between parts that, ultimately, inform us on a fragile and banal condition of our apprehension of day-to-day poetry.
She has exhibited at institutions such as Museo Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, Museo de la Ciudad de México, Akershus Kunstsenter, Kunstverein Wiesbaden, El Espacio23, Museum of Human Achievement, University of Maryland, VITA ROSEN, and Cine Tonalá Bogotá, among others.
Her work is part of the collections of Jorge Pérez, Fundación MARSO, and Fundación Otazu.
Daniela Libertad
Hay poder en lo pequeño [There is power in the small]
NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2026
Daniela Libertad. Cielo 2. 2023. Color pencil on paper. 600 x 150 cm
This exhibition deals with processes, time, change; with the small things that are part of a larger whole. It is a portrait of my time in Germany, living, raising.
I pay attention to what begins, what is taking shape, what screams, cries, hugs, asks, needs, desires. I play on the floor, negotiate with two little children, get tired, try to understand my limits while imposing others’ (there is hypocrisy in parenting). That little thing that changes shape, explodes, challenges, slips away, questions, asks, makes me uncomfortable, tires me, exhausts me, compromises me; it is.
Those little things that amaze me with their power: the dust in my house, drops of breast milk, my children, hair that fall out, the sand from the park that gets into the shoes, the collected pebbles, the twigs, the cookie crumbs in the bag.
That little thing is me too, asking questions about my surroundings. About inhabiting a new place, about what takes time: feeling at home, making dust.
– Daniela Libertad
Daniela Libertad. Cuerpo, dibujo 1. 2022. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 180 x 100 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Tejido blanco. 2026. Yarn and hair. 290 x 90 cm
Daniela Libertad. Gradiente 1. 2026. Yarn and plastic beads. 1003 x 0.5 x 0.5 cm
Daniela Libertad. Cielo 4. 2026. Acrylic on plaster. 22 x 26 cm
Daniela Libertad. Jueves 6 de febrero 2025 (ventana, plástico, cristal). 2025.
Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 100 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. YRALAS (leche, tierra). 2026. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 30 x 45 cm c/u (diptych). Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. YRALAS (vaso, agua, hielo). 2026. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 30 x 20 cm c/u (triptych). Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Miércoles 22 de mayo de 2013 (lentejuelas, camiseta, pared, sol, pecho). 2013. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 46 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Jueves 7 de marzo 2013 (tina, agua, rollo de plástico). 2013. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 50 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Jueves 16 de enero 2025 (fibras). 2025. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr.
100 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Martes 5 de marzo 2013 (cabello, cinta adhesiva). 2013. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 50 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Domingo 3 de marzo 2013 (rama, cinta adhesiva). 2013. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 46 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Jueves 16 de enero 2025 (varitas de madera, arbusto). 2025. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr.
100 x 70 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. Viernes 3 de enero 2014 (Piedra Nº 10, miel, lamer). 2014. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 30 x 45 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 PA)
Daniela Libertad. Martes 14 de abril 2026 (piel de cebolla). 2026. Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gr. 70 x 100 cm. Ed. 1/3 (+ 2 AP)
Daniela Libertad. A veces. 2026. Aluminium. 30,5 x 42 cm
Daniela Libertad
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2026
Hay poder en lo pequeño, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2023
Il y a de la force dans la légèreté. VARIATION. Galerie Sator + NF/ NIEVES FERNANDEZ. Paris
2022
I Return to Simple Actions, Art Gallery, University of Maryland, USA
2021
Between the Above and the Below, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2020
What Rests Also Resists, «1 Month 1 Artist», curated by Violeta Celis, Galería 123, Mexico City
2019
This Thread Will Take the Shape of All It Devours, curated by Paola Jasso, Casa Wabi Santa María la Ribera, Mexico City
2017
L for Line, JosédelaFuente Gallery, Santander
In Xochitl In Cuicatl, curated by Miguel Jara, Cine Tonalá, Mexico City
In Xochitl In Cuicatl, curated by Miguel Jara, Atopia, Oslo
2016
Study on Triangle, curated by Leslie Moody Castro, Museum of Human Achievement, Austin
Video Screening, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, curated by Eduardo S. Mayorga, Germany
2015
I Push Doors I Should Pull, I Pull Doors I Should Push, curated by Sofía Mariscal and Paty Siller, MARSO Gallery, Mexico City
Muestra Arte Actual 2015, curated by Sofía Carrillo Herrerías and Pedro Ortiz, Museo Arte Actual Ex-Teresa, Mexico City
2014
Transferred Study, curated by Sofía Mariscal, Cine Tonalá, Bogotá
Around, Within, curated by Violeta Celis, Casa Vecina, Mexico City
A Body of Light, a Speck of Dust, MARSO Gallery, Mexico City
The Full Empties Itself, the Empty Fills Itself, POLY Produzentengalerie, Karlsruhe, Germany
2013
EMAF – European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany
2011
Fokus Mexiko, curated by Eduardo Mayorga, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Germany
2010
KEAF – Korea Experimental Arts Festival, Seoul Art Space_Seogyo & Theater Zero, Seoul, South Korea
2008
Young Pretenders, curated by Josh Atlas, Kate Werble Gallery, New York
Ferenbalm-Gurbrü Station, Karlsruhe
Alpineum Produzentengalerie, Lucerne
Zenshi Gallery, Tokyo
Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin
2007
17th International Video Festival Bochum, Bochum, Germany
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020
Women in the Visual Arts Biennial (BMAV), Casa Conchita, Madrid
2019
map-soil-landscape, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
Fabiola Menchelli and Daniela Libertad, curated by Leslie Moody Castro, Fundación MARSO, Mexico City
Approaching Abstraction, curated by Alberto Ríos de la Rosa and Bosco Sodi, Blain|Southern, London
You of Me / I of You, curated by Fernanda Barreto, María Cerdá Acebrón, Manuela García and Carla Rippey, Museum of Mexico City
2017
Body / Action / Object: Contemporary Art Practices in Mexico City 1994–2016 Vol. I, with Luis Felipe Ortega, curated by Sofía Mariscal, Akershus Kunstsenter, Oslo
2015
Muestra Arte Actual 2015, Museo Arte Actual Ex-Teresa, Mexico City
2014
On What There Might Not Be, curated by Sofía Mariscal & Polina Stroganova, MARSO Gallery, Mexico City
2013
Beginning to See the Light, curated by Oscar Ramos, VITA ROSEN, Gothenburg
2011
Lost in Translation, curated by Nadja Verena Marcin, Jens Fehring Gallery, Frankfurt
Grants and Awards
2013–2014
Young Creators Program (Alternative Media category), FONCA – tutored by Tania Candiani and Sebastián Romo
2011–2012
Young Creators Program (Video category), FONCA – tutored by Bruno Varela
2008–2010
FONCA Scholarship Program for Studies Abroad
2006–2007
Baden-Württemberg Stipendium, awarded by the Government of Baden-Württemberg, for a semester at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, Germany
Residencies
2017
Casa Nano, August–September, Tokyo
2016
Museum of Human Achievement (MoHA), April, Austin
2014
Casa Wabi, November–December, Oaxaca
Collections
Pérez Art Museum, Miami
Fundación Otazu, Navarra
Fundación MARSO, Mexico City