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 working with photography, video, and words. They earned a MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from Bard College, and a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts. In 2011, Patricia curated the inaugural Luso-Brazilian Pop-Up Arts Festival in New York City; and in 2018 programmed Vivid Glances at Anthology Film Archives.
Photographs have been exhibited in group shows at The Center for Fine Art Photography, USA; The Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany; The Photographer's Gallery, London; UK. Their work was featured in Der Grief Number 10, the 10th Anniversary Issue.
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 for DOC NYC Film Festival, 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.
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 slim volume 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.
Patricia's interviews and critical writings on photography and visual culture have been published in Decolonization and Diversity in Contemporary Photography: The Dodge & Burn Interviews; Cult Bytes; Daylight; ICP Perspective, Memories Can't Wait: Conversations on Accessing History and Archives Through Artistic Practices; in The Gay and Lesbian Review; in a Joan Mitchell Foundation catalogue; and in 2019’s Queering the Collection published by Genderfail.
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 2024 Queens Art Fund Grant 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.
