Born in 1962, Cristina Nuñez started taking self-portraits in 1988 as a form of self-therapy, to overcome low self-esteem and stimulate her creative process. Up to the early 2000s, she produced photography books in which she addressed social questions through the portrait. On the margins of this public body of work, she continued taking self-portraits, which became Someone to Love; since 2005 this has been the focus of her work, as well as of The Self-Portrait Experience workshops that she has been conducting around the world. In 2013 she started her ongoing net-art project La Vie en Rose, on video, performance and web platform, with the real goal of finding her perfect partner. Nuñez considers herself a social activist, using her own life to stimulate the viewer to mirror himself in her work.

Nuñez is now living and working in Ticino, Switzerland. In February 2020 she has obtained a PhD by Published Works at the College of Arts and Humanities, University of Derby, UK.

In February 2020 Nuñez has obtained her PhD in Published Works on her practice and method at the College of Arts of the University of Derby, UK.

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2020 – Diamond Phototherapy Award, Royal Photographic Society, Bristol, UK.

2017 – Tina Price, Vitrine 7, Sao Paulo.

2015-16 – EEA Grants for the project “We Exist, self-portraits in Norwegian prisons”.

2015 – OSIC, Office for the Support of Cultural Initiative, Catalan Government, for her project “La Vie en Rose, the dialogue”.

2015 – La Caixa Obra Social, for her project Self-Portraits in Barcelona’s prison Quatre Camins.

2014 – OSIC, Office for the Support of Cultural Initiative, Catalan Government, for her project “Her/Story, Women Behind the Camera”

2013 – video La Vie en Rose #2 obtains the runners-up mention of the Ciutat de Palma Visual Arts Award.

2013 – 2014 – grant from the Norwegian embassy in Spain, programme “Cultural Diversity and Cultural Exchange”- project Her/Story, Two Women Behind the Camera.

2013 – OSIC, Office for the Support of Cultural Initiative, Catalan Government, for her project La Vie en Rose and her exhibition But Beautiful at Sponge Arte Contemporanea, Italy.

2013 – Her work But Beautiful obtains the Prix de la Critique 2013, Festival Voies Off, Arles.

2013 – Nuñez obtains the prize Premio Ora, Italy, for an exhibition at the gallery Sponge Arte Contemporanea, in Pergola, Italy.

2012 – La Caixa Obra Social, for her project Self-Portraits in Barcelona’s prison Lledoners

2012 – her video Someone to Love wins the Celeste Prize 2012.

2012 – OSIC, Office for the Support of Cultural Initiative, Catalan Government, for her exhibition Someone to Love at H2O gallery in Barcelona and Luova gallery in Helsinki and for her book But Beautiful – Higher Self.

2011 – CONCA, Council of the Arts and Culture of the Catalan Government, for her exhibition Someone to Love at the Mois de la Photo of Montreal 2011.

2010 – La Caixa Obra Social, for her project Self-Portraits in Barcelona’s prison Brians 1

2010 – Finalist and honourable mention at the Interim No.1 of the New York Photo Awards.

1996 – Mosaique, CNA Luxemburg, for her project Heaven on Earth.

1994 –Fondazione Studio Marangoni, Florence, for her project Body & Soul.

ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2017 – El Fill i la Puta, exhibition and performance. Sala Zero, Roca Umbert Fabrica de les Arts.

2016 – Higher Self, Maif Social Club, Paris.

2015 – But Beautiful, Chobi Mela Festival, Dakha, Bangladesh.

2014 – Someone to Love, The Boiler Room, Oslo.

2013 – But Beautiful, at Sponge Arte Contemporanea, Pergola, Italy.

2013 – La Vie en Rose and Someone to Love, video and performance, Encontros da Imagem, Braga.

2013 – La Vie en Rose and Someone to Love, video and performance, Editions Limités, Galerie du 4 Septembre, Arles.

2013 – La Vie En Rose, video premiere and performance, Effearte Gallery, Milan.

2012 – Someone to Love, Luova gallery, Helsinki

2012 – Someone to Love, H2O gallery, Barcelona

2012 – Someone to Love, MS Galería, Madrid

2011 – Someone to Love, video preview, H2O gallery, Barcelona

2011 – Someone to Love, Skol Centre des Arts Actuels, Mois de la Photo de Montreal 2011.

2010 – Higher Self, The Private Space Gallery, Barcelona

2008 – I am a teenager, Polifemo, La Fabrica del Vapore, Milan (curator)

2007 – Young Italian Gentle Men, Spazio Private Larusmiani, Milan

2000 – I am, Galeria Franca Speranza, Milan

1998 –To Hell and Back – Risiera di San Sabba, Trieste

1997 – To Hell and Back:

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin

Museo Monumento al Deportato, Carpi

Palazzo Reale, Milan

Encontros de Fotografia, Coimbra, Portugal

1995 – Body & Soul, Fondazione Studio Marangoni, Florence

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2017 – Uno Sguardo Nuovo, Ex-Expo Senigallia, Italy

2017 – Les Nuits Photographiques, Institut Français de Madrid, June 2017.

2016 – We Exist, permanent online exhibition

2016 – Encontros da Imagen, projection of the video Happiness is a warm gun.

2015 – Money, Les Nuits Photographiques, Pavillon Carré de Baudoin, Paris.

2015 – Self-timer Stories, MUSAC, Contemporary Art Museum in León.

2015 – TNG, Teenagers Granollers, Roca Umbert Fàbrica de les Arts (curator and lead artist)

2014 – I AM, Memoirs of Addiction Recovery, Manchester Metropolitan University.

2014 – “2004-2014. Opere e progetti del Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea“, Triennale, Milan.

2014 – Her/Story, Women Behind the Camera, H2O Gallery, Barcelona.

2013 – But Beautiful, projection at Voies Off Festival, Arles.

2013 – video Someone to Love and the book But Beautiful, The Flood Wall II, Berlin.

2012 – video Someone to Love, Celeste Prize 2012, Centrale Montemartini, Rome.

2012 – video Someone to Love, Social Photo Fest, Perugia.

2012 – video Someone to Love, Social Photo Fest, Piombino.

2012 – video Someone to Love, Les Nuits Photographiques, Rencontres d’Arles.

2012 – video Someone to Love, Les Nuits Photographiques, Paris.

2011 – 2000 & 11 Self-Portraits, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki.

2011 – 2000 & 11 Self-Portraits, European Capital of Culture 2011, Turku. Peri Photography Centre.

2011 – Higher Self, “Second Lives: Jeux Masqués et Autres Je”, Casino of Luxemburg.

2010-11 – Grandi e Piccole, Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Cinisello Balsamo, Italy.

2010 – Io mi vedo così: Autoritratti Fotografici, Centro Italiano Fotografia d’Autore, Bibbiena.

2010 – Autoritratto al Femminile, Polifemo, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan.

2010- Foto d’Autrice, Galleria Bel Vedere, Milan.

2009- The Self-Portrait Experience, Festival FotoGrafia, Rome.

2008 – De L’Europe, CNA Luxemburg.

2006-2007 – Il Sole nelle Mani, Bariphotocamera.

2006 – Tales from a Globalized World, United Nations, New York.

2005 – Tales from a Globalized World, Krakow, Vienna, Dhaka.

2005 – Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent, Jardins du Luxembourg, Paris.

2004 – Tales from a Globalized World, Zurich, Chiasso.

2003- Quotidiano al Femminile, Galleria del Credito Valtellinese, Milan.

2003 – Tales from a Globalized World, Geneva.

2002- The Spirit of Religion, Photocenter Skopelos.

1999- Papa, Maman, Chateau de Nyon.

1999- Philip Morris Gallery, Galeria Giò Marconi, Milan

1998 – Images du Monde Interieur, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles.

1996-Il Ritratto, un’Evoluzione, Breracult, Milano, curated by Photology, Milan.

PERSONAL BOOKS

2012 – But Beautiful, Le Caillou Bleu, Brussels.

2010 – Someone to Love, The Private Space Books, Barcelona.

2006- Young Italian Gentle Men, Valentina Edizioni, Milan.

2000 – Io Sono (I am), Dianova, Milan.

COLLECTIVE BOOKS

2018 – Mundo. Imagem. Mundo. Photography Festival Belo Horizonte, Brazil

2017 – Chi sono io? by Concita de Gregorio, Contrasto, Milan

2015 – Money, Les Nuits Photographiques, Paris.

2015 – Self-Timer Stories, Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein, MUSAC.

2015 – Intimacy. Chobi Mela Photo-festival, Bangladesh.

2014 – Opere e progetti del Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Silvana Editore, Milan.

2014 – L’Arte è utile, comunque bella, Adina Pugliese, Meta Edizioni, Italy.

2013 – I as Me, the making of 2000 & 11 Self-portraits, Turku University of Applied Sciences.

2013 – Phototherapy and Therapeutic Photography in a Digital Age, Del Loewenthal, Routledge, London.

2012 – Il corpo solitario. L’autoscatto nella fotografia contemporanea, Rubettino, Soveria Mannelli.

2011 – 2000&11 Self-Portraits, European Capital of Culture, Turku, Finland.

2011 – Lucidity, Inward Views, Mois de la Photo de Montreal.

2010 – Autofocus, Stefano Ferrari – Chiara Tartarini, Ed. Clueb, Bologna.

2008 – De L’Europe, CNA Luxembourg, Dudelange.

2007 – Il Sole nelle Mani, Bariphotocamera, Motta Editore, Milan.

2005- Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent, Editions du Chène, Paris.

2003- Tales from a Globalized World, Thames & Hudson, London.

2003- Quotidiano al Femminile, Peliti Associati, Rome.

2001 – The Spirit of Religion, Skopelos, Greece.

1999 – Paradise, ed. Steidl, Germany.

1997 – Europa, Encontros de Fotografia de Coimbra, Portugal.

1996 – Vita da Bambino, Art&, Udine, Italy.

1997 – All’Inferno e Ritorno (To Hell and Back), Art&, Udine, Italy.

Opere