La Conversión de la Huella (The Conversion of the Trace) explores the transformation of nature’s tangible perception through the material intervention of analog photographic images. By altering the chemical composition of the photographic medium, the project disrupts its conventional role as a representational tool, blurring the boundaries between photography and painting—two disciplines historically examined in modern and contemporary art.

The process begins with chromogenic photographic prints, which are subjected to bleach, a corrosive agent composed of alkaline salts and chlorine. This substance erases, disinfects, and removes traces, creating voids within the image. These blank spaces, or washes, are then reconstituted with pigment, introducing new visual elements into the composition. The act of erasure and replacement produces landscapes that are at once surreal, fantastical, and ominous, challenging the notion of photographic fidelity.

Conceptually, the project draws an analogy between photographic intervention and the destructive processes of climate change. Just as bleach alters the materiality of the image, human activity in the Anthropocene era has irreversibly transformed the Earth’s surface. At the same time, La Conversión de la Huella interrogates the resilience of photography as an artistic medium, questioning its longstanding association with objective representation. In this body of work, landscape is not merely perceived but reimagined—its dissolution making way for new and unexpected forms.

MEDIUMS

photography

ARTIST BIO

Solange Adam Abdala (b. 1980, Lima, Perú) is a photographer and visual artist currently based in Vancouver, Canada. Since 2023, she has been pursuing an MFA in Visual Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She holds a Professional Bachelor’s in Visual Project Direction and Photography (2022) and a Technical Professional degree in Photography (2006) from Escuela Superior Tecnológica Centro de la Imagen.

Abdala’s work has been widely recognized, earning her First Place in the III Photography Salon organized by the first Lima Photography Biennial and the ICPNA. In 2022, she was selected by the Prix Pictet for inclusion in Collage: Women of the Prix Pictet Since 2008, a book and exhibition celebrating women photographers. She has received numerous awards, honourable mentions, and finalist placements in competitions such as the ICPNA Contemporary Art Award (2020–2024), Chosen AI-AP Winners (2019), the 2nd NexoFoto Ibero-American Contest (2014), the Eugenio Courret Documentary Photography Contest (2013), and Passport for an Artist, where she was a three-time finalist. In 2024, she was awarded an Affiliated Fellowship in UBC’s Master’s Program, recognizing her academic excellence in arts research.

She has presented five solo exhibitions, including ¡CENTRO! (2022) at Galería Pública, La Conversión de la Huella (2022) at Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso, Swamp City (2017) at ICPNA’s Pardo Heeren Room, Natural (2015) at Galería Ojo Ajeno, and Picture Element (2011) at Galería El Borde. Her work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions across Lima and internationally, spanning cities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

In addition to her artistic practice, Abdala has been teaching photography at the undergraduate level since 2007. From 2013 to 2021, she served as the Academic Coordinator for Continuing Education at Centro de la Imagen. In 2021, she co-founded Galería Pública, a virtual platform dedicated to showcasing the diversity of contemporary Peruvian photography.