Meet Gabriela Benavides | Sound Artist, Audio Engineer & Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gabriela Benavides and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabriela, why did you pursue a creative career?
Art is something I’ve been involved with for most of my life I think?

There are not many artists in my family… (although there’s for sure a couple) but I think my parents especially, have always tried to be involved with cultural events and that had a big impact on my childhood. So I was always surrounded by art in some shape or form wether It was live music, theatre or visiting galleries and museums.

I feel very lucky to have had those experiences as part of my childhood and I think it really shaped me.

As many other families, my parents wanted me to play an instrument as a kid so they signed me up for piano lessons when I was four and I guess it just picked up from there! When it was time to go to college, I thought about pursuing medicine or biology but friends & family made me notice how involved I was with the arts and I guess I had a change of heart.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I feel like Sound Art is a very obscure field sometimes, so I guess at least in the contemporary art world it’s something that can stand out at times? That’s maybe just my perception of it though.

I’m trying to put together a little group show with other artists in New York sometimes this year, so I’ll be pretty proud of that when/if it materialises. I’m currently pursuing my master’s degree at NYU and sometimes people say that’s a big achievement, though it doesn’t feel like a huge deal personally.

As a non-american currently on a student visa I’ve had my fair share of challenges trying to showcase my work and just getting stuff out there. We’re only allowed to work on campus so making yourself know and taking gigs while adhering to that can be pretty challenging… but it is what it is I guess. I feel like, some of my American friends were not aware of that… so I guess that’s something to maybe put on blast haha.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I currently live in New York and I’m a big museum nerd so all the big spots are gonna be on this list.

MoMa is amazing and I end up hanging out there pretty often.
The Met is huge and always bustling, I think there’s something for everyone in their collection as opposed to MoMa.
The Guggenheim feels a little more relaxed to me, their permanent collection has some “classics” but what really interests me are their rotating exhibits. I feel like there’s always something cool to see.

There’s a bunch of galleries out in Chelsea too, even though I haven’t been to a lot of them I feel like it’s a cool neighbourhood. If not for the art, the architecture is killer!

I recently found this spot in Brooklyn I haven’t been to yet but I’ve been meaning to check out. It’s this bar called “Turtles All the Way Down”. It showed up on Google as a bar/aquarium… and wouldn’t you know it, they have turtles! That’s just… super cute and quirky.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Absolutely!

Some of my professors at Berklee and NYU were incredibly influential to me and I would not be where I am without their mentorship and support. Richard Boulanger & Neil Leonard, both incredible technologists and composers teaching at Berklee and Anastasia Clarke who’s a sound artist teaching at NYU.

My friends have always supported me and encouraged me. So a couple people here:

Noah Rowe-Gaddis, an incredible musician and educator in Boston who… actually might’ve inspired me to try and go into teaching. Michael Ventura, saxophonist and Vocalist who’s gigging around Spain now I think? And lastly, Ben Caito, who plays guitar/bass for the band Lurid Purple Flowers! Go check out their stuff!

Website: gabrielabenavidesaudio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benavidxs/