Juan Orrantia
Photographer / Based in Johannesburg, South Africa
Juan Orrantia's photographic practice uses color, appropriation, mixed media and the photobook as forms to interrogate historical narratives and experiences of looking and being seen. His book Like Stains of Red Dirt was awarded the Fiebre Dummy Award and published by Dalpine (2020), and A Machete Pelao (Cdf Editions 2022) received the first prize Latin American Photobook Centro de Fotografia de Montevideo. Self published artist books are held in collections like the Smithsonian Museum of African Art Library, Biblioteca de Arte Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, The Tierney Foundation and The Ginsberg Center for the Book, Wits Museum of Art. Reviews of his work appear in Aperture, Nearest Truth, BJP, Africa is a Country, among others, and has been supported by the Smithsonian Artist Fellowship, Tierney Fellowship, and artist residences at various institutions and universities. Orrantia is now Assistant professor of Fine Art Photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology, having previously taught at Wits University Fine Arts (Johannesburg), Bard Center for Human Rights and Arts, and the ICP among others. Juan was born in Colombia and lives and works between Rochester, NY, South Africa and Colombia. www.juanorrantia.com