Skin Deep is an interactive photographic experience. It presents fifteen stories, representing the diverse sexualities and gender identities of the queer community in Ecuador.
Merging tactile interaction with digital platforms/technology, the images presented break with traditional dynamics of museography and visual arts. The viewer becomes a participant who, through the act of touching and tearing the image, reveals the depth of each narrative. Skin Deep transgresses and questions how we interact with art; its innovative narrative creates a unique, playful and individual experience.
The interactive nature of the work invites the viewer to consider the subject beneath the surface of appearances, creating an empathetic and immersive approach to the humanity of these everyday stories.
This project aims to tear aside perceived stereotypes, and show a community that is ethnically, economically, generationally and emotionally diverse. It rejects the limited definition of gender or sexuality as static or innate. It recognizes both as something fluid, built by each individual throughout their lifetime as they understand and consolidate their own identity.
Paola Paredes (b.1986) is an ecuadorean photographer. Blending traditional documentary photography with staged imagery, her work focuses on issues facing the LGBT community, exploring contemporary attitudes towards homosexuality in Ecuador. Putting herself at the forefront of her imagery, her work represents a personal and intimate challenge to social prejudices, and invites renewed discourse on the interactions between sexuality, family and personal freedom in contemporary society.
Paola received a Bachelor’s degree in graphic design in Quito before completing her first photography masters degree at Middlesex University in 2015. She also a second masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication in 2016.
Her first major photographic work ‘Unveiled’ was widely celebrated upon its publication, and has been extensively distributed online, receiving support from prominent publications including, Huffington Post, Feature Shoot, and Cosmopolitan. Her second project ‘Until You Change’ has also been widely celebrated online with prominent publications in BBC, Aljazeera, Yahoo News, Vanity Fair and more, as well as been exhibited internationally.
Project Director:
Paola Paredes Albán
Art Direction:
Paola Paredes Albán
Dasha Sánchez Maximova
Ana María Vizcarra
Web programmer:
Andrés Castellanos Marcano
Interactive creative coding:
Ariel Uzal
Graphic Design:
Paola Paredes Albán
Bel Aguas
Dasha Sánchez Maximova
Texts:
Dasha Sánchez Maximova
Paola Paredes Albán
Maria del Pilar Cobo González
Videos:
Ana María Buitrón
Ana Pietro Méndez
Alejandro Reinoso Morales
Video Mapping:
Miguel Ángel Murgueytio Viteri
Production:
Paola Paredes Albán
Dasha Sánchez Maximova
Collaborators:
Daria #LaMaracx travestí/ Investigadora
Gabriela Yerovi Armendáriz/ Asistencia General
Carla Puente Acosta/ Asesoría y diseño de objetos
Diarmuid Mcdonald/ Textos en inglés
Nicole López Quijano/ Asistente Fotográfico
Raquel Chamorro Villarreal/ Asistente Fotográfico
Lourdes Aguirre Colazo / Asistencia en edición de imágenes
Mati Palacios Tamayo/Ediciòn de textos
Elizabeth Gualoto Cuichan/ Maquillista
Emilia Dávila Endara/ Maquillista
Victor Cárdenas Ruíz/ Extras
Estefano Ortega Enríquez/ Extras
María Fernanda Guamán/ Extras
Tomás Reece/Traducciòn subtitulos
Gabriel del Castillo Yépez (corrección de estilo inglés)
Participants:
Gledys Anael Macias
Gustavo Vernaza Montaño
Oscar Martin Pinto
Kelvin Marcelo Molina Paz
María Belén Jaramillo Campos
Cristina Carvajal Calle
Diana Amores Moreno
Edgar Zúñiga salazar
Fausto Santiago Cabezas
José Manuel Zambrano Zambrano
Emilio José León León
Mati Palacios Tamayo
Amada
Odalys Cayambe Bustamante
Mikaela Zapata Moran
Doménico Zapata Pozo
Patricia Salavarria Nivela
Andy Abad Borja
Zumak Flores Andy
Printing:
Photolienzos
Cámara Lúcida
Special Thanks to:
Morgen Veres
Martha Hipley
Georgina Gladys Tirado
Edwin González
Alejandro Enrique González
María Jacinta Almeida Muñoz
Marcelo David Cruz González
Zion Sebastián Andrade
Pamela Troya
Rosmery Cedeño
Juan Pablo Guerrero Pinto
Paulo Ramos
David Gómez
Jennifer Carrera
Luisa Osejo
Sara Rojas
Leonel Yépez
Shane Rodríguez
Sarah Flores
Gabriell Esteban Castellanos
Museum Team:
Francois Laso Chenut
Francisco Suárez
Francisco Morales
Karen Sabando
Tiani Samay
Joshua Pazos
Ana Acosta
David Santillán
Melissa Mejía
