About
Bio
Laia Abril, 25, is a documentary photographer raised in Barcelona. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and studied photography through different workshops and master classes, including at the ICP in New York City.
She began working on documentary projects in the Balkans, covering the events such as the 13th Funeral of Srebrenica and the Independence of Kosova, first for a Spanish NGO and then for Spanish newspapers. At the same time she was combining photography with her communication career as the Press Coordinator for the exhibition ‘World Press Photo08’ in Barcelona.
In 2009 and 2010 she was a finalist of the Ian Parry Scholarship, participating in the exhibition at the Getty Images Gallery in London both years, first with her project on the young lesbian community in Brooklyn, and then with the project ‘The Last Cabaret’ about a porno sex club in Barcelona.
Her work has been featured in magazines including D la Repubblica delle Donne, Ojo de Pez, Sports Illustrated, The Sunday Times Magazine, FT Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair, and COLORS Magazine amongst others, and has been recognized with various emerging photographer scholarships and exhibitions in Spain and Italy.
In October 2009, she started to work as a photographer, photo researcher and filmmaker in the issue #77 The Sea of COLORS Magazine at Fabrica ‘Benetton’s communication research centre’ publishing stories about I’ve Never Seen the Sea and The Blind Captain. After that issue she was Editor-In-Chief of the DANCE #78 combinig always with her photography role in the magazine.
Most recently she was awarded a second Fabrica scholarship to develop a personal photo project over the next year about Bulimia which was recently published in D la Repubblica delle Donne, screening at The Sunday Times and screening and the New York PhotoFestival 2011.
Laia Abril became an Emerging Talent on Reportage by Getty Images in November 2010.
*For more info download CV PDF (coming soon).
Exhibitions
- ‘A Bad Day’ Multimedia featured at the New York Photo Festival 2011 displayed in the DAC (Dumbo Art Center).
New York, USA –May 2011– - Collective Exhibition ‘Finalist Ian Parry Award’ exhibiting ‘Last Cabaret’ in the Getty Gallery.
London, UK –August 2010– - Collective Exhibition ‘Domestic’, exhibiting ‘Femme Love’ as a book, in Caja Madrid.
Barcelona, Spain –April/June 2010– - ’6×6’ Exhibition with the work ‘Femme Love’ in Studio la Città, in a season with: Olivia Arthur, Kitra Cahana, Liz Hingley, Jennifer Osborne and Leonie Purchas.
Verona, Italy –November 09/February 2010– - Collective Exhibition ‘Finalist Ian Parry Award’ exhibiting ‘Femme Love’ in the Getty Gallery.
London, UK –August 2009– - Collective Projection ‘Street Photo’ in Studio 304.
Bushwick, NY –April 2009– - Collective Projection ‘Street Photo’ in CCCB.
Barcelona, Spain –November 2008–
Awards
- Scholarship of the Albarracín Seminari ‘Photography and Journalism’, 2010, Spain.
- Selected for the Final of the Prix ANI (Association Nationale des Iconographes), 2010, Perpignan, France.
- Finalist Ian Parry Award 2010, London, UK.
- FABRICA Schoolarship in Photography Department, 2009 and 2010, Treviso, Italy.
- Finalist Ian Parry Award 2009, London, UK.
- Internship of ‘Emergent photojournalists’, 2008 in Gijón, Spain.
- Finalist scholarship of the Albarracín Seminari ‘Photography and Journalism’, 2007, Spain.
Publications
- D Magazine #757, Gay Treviso, September 2011.
- Spectrum Sunday Times, ‘A Bad Day’ Multimedia, April 2011.
- D Magazine #731, ‘A Bad Day’, February 2011.
- Sport Weekly Magazine, December 2010.
- Colors #78 Dance issue, September 2010.
- Spectrum Sunday Times, ‘Last Cabaret’, August 2010.
- Ojo de Pez #19, ‘Femme Love’, January 2010.
- Colors #77 The Sea, I’ve Never Seen the Sea & Blind Captain, March 2010.
Contact
She is based between Treviso (30′ from Venice) and Barcelona.
She can be contacted for any assignments worldwide
Italy +39 392 79 32 690
Spain +34 646 17 06 97
hello@laiaabril.com
Skype laia.abril