Meet Olivia Barrionuevo-Minkin | Artist/Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olivia Barrionuevo-Minkin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I grew up in a small border town, but I loved books and I felt in love with literature and story telling at a very young age..
I did not now that I was perusing an artistic career but I knew that I love visualizing stories and ideas. I would go to bed late
imagining characters and have them perform in my mind. I used to read a lot of novels specifically after my dad’s death somehow it would take me away from my pain. All the characters on my mind and the novels I was reading, were well traveled and this started my curiosity from that tiny small town to dream big in my imagination, that one day I could visit those countries.

That dream came to realization in my early 20’s by going to Europe where I lived 2 years. I learned Italian and French and discovered and lived with art from morning to night what a treat.

I developed an obsessive fascination up to this date with the Renaissance period.
Prior to my trip I had started college for journalism being my favorite subject photojournalism, and there my journey began, and what a journey would not change it for anything in the world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My work explores subcultural movements and historical traditions in search of a cross-border intercultural dialogue. Focused on portraiture, social activism and raising awareness through art.

I am excited this year from the Installation art work that is exhibiting at El Camino College through ESMoA, (Experimentally Structured Museum of Art) at El Segundo, CA till Dec 14, 2024.

“The Monarch’s Flight”, has traveled to Mexico, Arizona, Switzerland, and Los Angeles and has around 500 portraits with stories from the participants.

“El Vuelo de la Monarca” (The Monarch’s Flight), a traveling installation of silk butterflies and portraits. It is a participatory, and inclusive installation, the audience stops being passive spectators and becomes part of the artwork, the public attending the exhibition have their photograph taken with the butterflies and gradually create a “mural of faces” that grows in size with each new exhibition, as participants who choose to have their photo taken will become part of the next installation.

Additionally, participants write or share their experiences by giving their opinions on the subject of migration, climate change and human rights; these testimonies are stored in a memory blog that has been growing over time. With this work and based on the metaphor of the monarch butterfly, which migrates every year fleeing the cold forests of Canada in winter to the temperate forests of Michoacán and the State of Mexico, I hope to invite the audience to reflect and raises awareness about the phenomenon of migration, human rights, climate change.

I see in our humanity that we are in progress and ascension to the highest of human ideals.
A part of that journey has always been tied to the world around us, and today, it has become vital to be conscious and present in the moment of crucial global environment and geo-political shifts.

I’d like to think that we are ascending to a better world, a better humanity and towards a deepened understanding of our connection with the natural world and thus a greater respect for our environment. Drawing on the folkloric metaphor of the butterfly, The Monarch Flight aims to advocate for transformation as the central force in human and animal migration patterns and the shared guiding force of all the living beings – all contributing meaning to the construct of our world, the
universe we all share.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Love having visitors, I have to constant entertain. The Museums are a must.

Day 1= The Broad, close by stop for coffee at Nossa Familia Coffee at the Cal Edison Building, and walk around that area is very beautiful. Lunch at Zinc Coffee, love their salads. I would walk trough the Art District and see some murals and dinner at Bestia, for sure make reservations before.
Day 2= Norton Museum at Pasadena, lunch at Earth Coffee, walk around the beautiful gardens of Huntington Gardens dinner at Gravel.
Day 3= Hang out at Malibu Beach, lunch at Marmalade Cafe, and enjoy some wine at El Cielo wine tasting.
Day 4= Red Lion, for some German food, walk around Silver Lake and go to the Observatory.
Day 5- LACMA and lunch there at the museum, and probably to to the Academy Museum
Day 6-They are probably exhausted by then so just walk around Beverly Hills and do nothing just enjoy lunch and drinks there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
In my early years, my first role model was my dad. He was a business man and was fascinated how he command the room and made business deals. My mom for her dedication to the family and to keep up with routine and discipline

I think in every period of my life there has been a mentor that has inspired me, Irving Wallace, Journalist, Screenwriter and Novelist, made me dream of other worlds in a very early age…my teens.

My mentors throughout my life had been the backbone of my career and life. In Santa Monica College as I studied photography was Ford Lowcock professor and Larry Jones the Director of the Photo Department. They encouraged me in every step of the way.

In Art Center my mentor was an incredible master printer Leor Levine, who was always there not only to guide me but also in the process as a photographer, friend and mentor.

During my early years in photojournalism I met Abbas from Magnum as I was covering the Presidential Mexican elections and his calmness in a chaos was like nothing was happening around him. I never forget the way he work under pressure.

Kirk Mckoy and Anacleto Rapping were my mentors at Los Angeles Times newspaper. The level of ethics and professionalism I learned with them it has lived with me throughout my career.

Master Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro inspired me to go back to school for film and commercial photography, the way he saw light, the way he prepared the set with meticulous detail. I had the fortune to worked in his set of the movie Zapata and the opportunity to freeze time and the moment with his portrait.

I don’t think we can get anywhere without the support of people behind us but also by just being. We are role models, family, colleagues and humans whom we interexchange energy. We are not one we are all.

Website: https://www.oliviabarrionuevo.com

Instagram: @oliviabarrionuevo

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-barrionuevo

Twitter: @Olibarrionuevo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OliviaBarrionuevo

Image Credits
All photos © Olivia Barrionuevo- Minkin