Alba Urquia: The Struggle and the Struggler

About the artist:

Alba Urquia’s work is a reaction to our current reality of trends, consumerism, the celebration of individualism, and the constant manipulation. Working with ideas around identity and existentialism, the notion of self, the human condition, consciousness, Urquia explores how we relate to the physical world. Her practice is driven by a strong drawing element, the use of symbolism, a search for a narrative and the combination of processes, and the physical act of printing is the most suitable way to talk about the material, the body and that that we can touch in opposition to that that we can’t. Her work is informed by philosophical concepts related to existentialism, absurdism and the body-mind dilemma, paying close attention to philosophers such as Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre or Plato’s allegory of the Cave.

Urquia is currently studying MA Print at the Royal College of Art and is a printmaking and screenprinting technician at the London College of Communication. In 2019, she was awarded the Pilar Juncosa and Sotheby’s Training Grant.