IRAYA | Visual Artist

Artist Statement

I wonder how society imposes its beliefs on us, and what is left of us as human beings when we question them.

Through acrylic and colour I explore how we live, what we consume, and how we treat our environment and other living beings. My images look simple at first glance, but they allow many readings. I am not interested in convincing anyone; I want each person who stops in front of my work to leave with a question of their own.

Biography

Soraya Irene Balsalobre Ortiz, known as Iraya (Madrid, 1985), is a visual artist whose practice centres on social conditioning and shared human experience. Her work observes and questions how society shapes our relationship with the body, food, nature and other living beings, while looking for what unites us as people beyond those differences. She does not set out to give answers, but to spark curiosity and raise questions that each person can answer for themselves.

She trained in Industrial Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, specialised in art criticism, curating and photography, and is currently studying for a degree in Philosophy.

She has had a solo exhibition at Café del Arte, Madrid, and has taken part in group exhibitions at venues such as Abantium Galería, Barcelona. She curated Sembrando Arte in Barrado, Cáceres, a project that brought contemporary art to a rural setting. She is currently developing La vida en fragmentos, a participatory installation built from letters written by people around the world about their life experiences, which investigates what unites us as human beings regardless of age, culture or place of origin.

CV