BIPOC means Black Indigenous and People of Colour. A conversation with Camila Falquez, Latin America’s fashion photographer of the year, whose work focus is in on systemic racial injustices
What does BIPOC mean? About BIPOC and its meaning
BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Pronounced bye-pock, this is a term specific to the United States, intended to center the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups and demonstrate solidarity between communities of color.
The term BIPOC is more descriptive than people of color or POC. It acknowledges that people of color face varying types of discrimination and prejudice. Additionally, it emphasizes that systemic racism continues to oppress, invalidate, and deeply affect the lives of Black and Indigenous people in ways other people of color may not necessarily experience. Lastly and significantly, Black and Indigenous individuals and communities still bear the impact of slavery and genocide.
BIPOC aims to bring to center stage the specific violence, cultural erasure, and discrimination experienced by Black and Indigenous people. It reinforces the fact that not all people of color have the same experience, particularly when it comes to legislation and systemic oppression.
Camila Falquez – BIPOC and indigenous communities
Born in Mexico and raised in Spain, Colombian photographer Camila Falquez creates imagery based on Western traditions from fashion and art to honor a contemporary spectrum of human diversity. Falquez’ work is dedicated to all beauty that is inherent to the Latin American continent: its indigenous
communities, natural resources, strong LGBTQIA+ communities and its Afro-Latin American descendants that brought new religions to the region.
Camila Falquez studies these diverse expressions and captures them in her signature painterly color palette – with the likes of the fashion and photography scene, as well as social organizations and companies like Nike, Clinique, Apple, and Netflix.
Latin American Fashion Awards: Fashion Photographer of the Year – Camila Falquez on BIPOC and indigenous communities
Then came the first Latin American Fashion Awards. As a recognition for her contemporary approach to fashion photography, Camila Falquez was awarded the title of Fashion Photographer of the Year. It was a memorable moment, she explains to Lampoon, a moment of unity.
«The price is not just mine. It was given to multiple talents who are creating projects related to contemporary Latin America Latin. For example, the influencer category was given to one indigenous leader and brand of the year was for Luar, a gender fluid label from a Dominican designer. We have a history of constructed narratives that have endured for a long time, and I was honored to be among the people who are telling a story of Latin America that feels more real at this moment».
She describes the creative scene from Latin-America, that is spread all over the world, as a reclamation of roots that are slowly being brought together. «From many creatives I did not know they were Latinos, but it clicks when you put them together: the rawness, color, fluidity, and beauty. They show a contemporary identity of rooted cultures that, in my opinion, can save humanity».
Leveraging European ideals of beauty and power to center rooted cultures
Born in Mexico from a Colombian marriage, Falquez moved to Barcelona, Spain, at the age of six. With her mother being an artistic mind, she was brought up with the canon of Western art museums such as the Prado in Madrid and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. They made an impression on her that would shape her distinctive visual language. «I was struck by the capacity of certain European styles to perpetuate certain ideals of beauty and power». She took those symbols that she knew from growing up in Europe to spaces that have been deprived of that vision.
From the light and rich colors to the props and textile textures – Camila Falquez translates the dignified style of portraying as taught in classic Western art history into modern versions. «I’ve noticed that something powerful happens when we assume certain humans have always belonged in those rooms – because of how it’s being presented to the viewer».
Which doesn’t mean that a Falquez and a Rembrandt are the same. «I bring in my own elements like the poses, the fabrics, sets, and my own sense of color». Many of these individual art practices are experiments, a way of working she learnt from her mother. «She used to have me in her studio to help with paints, crafting materials, and set design. My mother is a fascinating human being and prolific artists with an endless amount of creativity. I’m a product of growing up by her side».
The message of Camila Falquez: social consciousness and human diversity
Upon her arrival in the States, Falquez started with film. «I’ve done lots of experiments and little fashion films, but I realized that I just want to do one still. And thus, I started freelancing». Falquez explains that she needed time to find her language and understand what makes her work truly Camila. The red thread in her work today is something she calls social consciousness: a new take on traditional fashion imagery into more inclusive pictures that speak to representation.
Traditions of conventional fashion photography are still key for Falquez’ work. She considers them a modern extension of art history. «It has become a fun space for me to experiment with. Fashion has a great influence on society. Intellectuals, people in random towns, my uncles, and aunties from Colombia, they all care about Vogue». Playful are the long, crinkling nails in a nude shoot for Vogue Spain featuring Schiaparelli haute couture, and the theatrical fires on set of an Allure shoot featuring Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny. Falquez brings her messages by marrying urgency with beauty and playfulness.
Camila Falquez: «we need empathy and caring in a genuine way»
Multiple muses of social movements have been in front of Camila Falquez’ lens, including performer and writer Alok Vaid-Menon and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley. On set, they are «treated like royalty». Falquez believes in this way of working.
«I am head over heels in love with the humans that I photograph, and I think it shows in the photographs that they feel comfortable. When my subjects arrive in my studio, the ceremony starts. I have my friends cook, we have a beautiful meal, they have hair and makeup done and they feel beautiful. Being allowed to portray these difficult stories is not about me having to be a Latin American woman, it is about creating a space of care on all levels. That applies to a lot of things that are happening in the world right now and we need it: empathy and caring in a genuine way».
Fostering social consciousness through art: the wide scope of projects by Camila Falquez
Though Falquez’ modus operandi is photography, some of Falquez’s work is closer to performance art. Her latest project called The Voice Does Go Up, created alongside artist and academic Luis Rincon Alba, was a multimedia installation and performance site that explores the various dimensions and potentials of the human voice.
Set in a monochromatic red environment, sounds from videos, audio recordings, and live performance, the work offers a deeper reflection on the transcendent aspects of the voice. The piece also investigates the forces within traditional Caribbean songs and explores the anticolonial legacies that shaped ancestral percussive and chanting techniques. Social consciousness is what the beholder experiences.
Gods That Walk Among Us, Falquez’ first solo exhibition presented in the same gallery, celebrated human diversity from another angle. The photographer curated 28 photographs shot in the last four years between Cuba, New York, Puerto Rico, and Spain depicting activists, friends, muses, and performers with whom Falquez has developed long standing relationships.
Poor People Make Rich Things and the project Being in History
Nataal magazine debuted Poor People Make Rich Things, a photo series of moments during Mardi Gras 2023. The images, along with their accompanying text, explore how the festive safeguards modes of coming together that teach humanity how to prevent disaster.
The project Being in History – a self-release to allow full expression without censorship or constraints – was presented in windows of old New York businesses, to unify the displaced by the gentrification. All proceeds were donated to trans activists of The Stonewall Protests. The photographs celebrate human diversity, using references to renowned figures like Venus Anadyomene and Sun King Louis XIV – of whom a miniature appears in the shot looking up at transfeminine model Ita Segev.
Social consciousness also plays a role in Falquez’ pandemic project, her first big social implication project for which she plastered photographs of gender non-conforming, trans, queer, and people of color in the streets of New York in large format. Then the Black Lives Matter marches started going through those spaces. «It was a moment where I knew that this is what I want to do. On a visual and on a social level».
NADA: social consciousness to accelerate trans and non-binary rights – about BIPOC
Camila Falquez’ next exhibition in Miami is part of a fair from New Art Dealers Alliance – NADA. The photographs on display are gathered from four of Falquez’ ongoing bodies of work. Compañera (2023) features photography, protest art, and a video installation made in the framework of the creation, development, and proposal of the first bill protecting trans and non-binary people in Colombia. Being (2018-2023) is a visual manifesto of human diversity that seeks to redefine and reclaim monumental pedestals. It aims to share stories of survival and liberation overlooked by colonial narratives.
Arewa (2021-2023) is a portrait project following the intimate relationship between Falquez and Arewa Basit, a trans performer and activist based in New York City. In this collaboration, Falquez explores the physicality of transness and the dimensional act of growing into and becoming oneself.
The exhibition also debuts one portrait from a recent series for The Global Alliance of the Territories that honors Indigenous leaders from around the world. Each image from the series asserts that «la defensa de la madre tierra es la defensa de la humanidad (the defense of mother earth is the defense of humanity)».
It is about reclaiming monumental pedestals – social consciousness.
