romina
rivero
artist statement
The links between the “clear self” and the “diffused self,” medicine and philosophy, intertwine with biopolitical violence in my work. Within this framework, I engage with neoliberal Western medicine and traditional medicine, as well as classical Taoist philosophy and contemporary thought. This investigation reveals state fabrications that, from the 15th century to the present, are embodied in clinical discourses and reflect biopower. I acknowledge the complexity of the female experience: the destruction of female power within medicine, biological and social reproduction, and political and social creativity.
From an artistic and medical praxis, my work dwells between the poetic and the biopolitical. It explores pain, the open wound, the healing process, and the scar as living forms of consciousness and presence. A spell to give voice to the silenced, to let wounds breathe, and to beautify the afflicted.
Fragility is recognized in the work as an act of diaphaneity, resistance, and transmutation, opening space for reflection on the human experience. The body as a political and sensitive territory, both intimate and public. An aesthetic that restores the sublime, sowing dignity, equity, and justice.
I affirm vulnerability as a revolutionary gesture: living possibilities.
bio
Romina Rivero (Canarias, 1982)
is a contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary work unfolds at the confluence of the poetic and the biopolitical, addressing pain, scarring, and healing as the conceptual cores of her artistic practice. Based on the island of Tenerife, her training in Fine Arts (Bachelor's Degree in Multidisciplinary Contemporary Art from the ULL, 2014) is complemented by Master's degrees in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, knowledge that permeates her work.
Her professional career includes participation in prestigious contemporary art fairs such as Art Photo BCN, JUSTMAD, ZONAMACO, ESTAMPA, as well as her debut at HYBRID ART FAIR in 2019. She has also participated in various national and international group exhibitions in Mexico, Ecuador, Gran Canaria, Madrid, France, and Italy. Her most relevant solo exhibitions include those held at the Artizar Gallery of Tenerife (2025/2026) and Modus Operandi Gallery in Madrid in 2024 and at César Manrique's CIC El Almacén, 2022. Also noteworthy are those held at TEA in 2018 and at the La Regenta Art Center (Gran Canaria, 2017).
Rivero has been internationally recognized with the Critics' Prize at the 3rd Biennale di Genova (Italy) and has won awards in major institutional competitions, such as the European Parliament (Strasbourg) and the SEGAI (School of the University of Tenerife) (Tenerife), where her works are part of their permanent collections. Her work is also featured in public and private collections, both nationally and internationally.
Represented by Galería Artizar, Romina Rivero's practice is consolidated as an act of resistance and transformation that strips pain of its tragic nature to restore its sublime quality. Through suturing, she ennobles the wound, proposing an aesthetic discourse that reclaims fragility as a form of power, in a creative process where the values of equity, dignity, and social justice prevail.
This year, her creative work continues to expand with both individual and collective projects, where performance has become an essential component of her work.
