Photographs, Videos, Short Films, Words

with motion,
in stillness

"Darkrooms, dancefloors, classrooms, and spaces for survivors...where I've felt the safest to express is also where I learned the importance of reorganizing perceptions."  
    — Patricia Silva, 2024 interview

Patricia Silva is a Lisbon-born arts worker based in New York City. visual artist working with photography, video, and words. They earned a MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from Bard College (2013), and a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts (1999). In 2011, Patricia curated the first Luso-Brazilian Pop-Up Arts Festival in New York City. Presently an instructor at The School at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

Patricia's interviews and critical writings on photography and visual culture have been published in ICP Perspective, Dodge & Burn: Decolonizing Photography, Cult Bytes, Daylight, "Memories Can't Wait," in The Portuguese American Journal, in a Joan Mitchell Foundation catalogue, and in 2019’s Queering the Collection.

Photographs have been exhibited in group shows at The Center for Fine Art Photography, USA; The Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany; International Center of Photography, New York, USA; Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley, USA. Their work was included in Der Grief Number 10, the 10th Anniversary Issue.

Photobooks have been exhibited in group shows at The Benaki Museum, Greece; Phoenix Museum of Art, USA; Ateliê da Imagem, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2016, one of their self-published projects earned them an invitation to the White House by the Obama Administration. In 2017, one book was part of 10x10 Photobooks' "AWAKE: Protest, Liberty and Resistance Reading Room" at Magnum Foundation, NY; Carnegie Museum of Art, PA; Image Text Ithaca, NY, and now part of the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Museum, NY.

Videos and short films have been screened in film festivals, exhibitions, and special programs at the British Film Institute, UK; MIT List Visual Arts Center, USA; Anthology Film Archives, USA; Contemporary Art Center, Scotland; MoMA PS1 Theater, USA; IFC Theater, USA; Colorado Photographic Arts Center, USA; Tengis Cinema, Mongolia; Cervantes Institute, Brazil; Cine 13, France; Filmgalerie Im Beutel, Germany; Deluge Contemporary Art, Canada; the Ojectifs Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore; and the Flux Factory, USA.

Patricia’s photographs and photo books are included in collections at The Brooklyn Museum, USA; the Leslie Lohman Museum of LGBT Art, USA; the Queens Historical Society, USA; the Hellenic Centre for Photography, Greece; and The Colorado Photographic Arts Center, USA. They are the recipient of a 2019 Queens Council on the Arts New Works Grant, and of two International Center of Photography Director’s Fellowship scholarships, 2011, 2012. In 2024 they were awarded The Tarkovski Grant, and shortlisted for the Athens Photography Prize.