Josefina Muñoz Torres

Josefina Muñoz Torres (she/her) is a Chilean multidisciplinary visual artist specialized in glass, whose research-driven practice examines space, architecture, and place in terms of their impact on political, social, and community formation. Josefina has shown her work and developed creative projects in South America, North America, Europe, and East Africa. She has been commissioned to work diverse public art pieces, including a large-scale permanent installation for The United Nations. With a current focus on isolated territories and Southern-Patagonia islands, Josefina’s methodologies stand in the intersection between ethnography, sociology, craft, community-building, and science.

Muñoz Torres holds a MFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design (2013) and a BFA from the Catholic University in Chile (2006).

Informed by my upbringing in a small and secluded country, I move around peripheries to examine the influence of geographies on individuals and communities. Through a research-driven approach, I study the concepts of space, architecture, territories, and place, as definers of social and political structures. Following an interdisciplinary and collaborative practice, my work spans various mediums, with a focus on glass, mixed-media installations, light boxes, and architectural interventions. 

Situated at the crossroads of ethnography, sociology, craft, community-building, and science, my work emphasizes the significance of both field research and studio practice. Thus, the main projects I have developed include long-term fieldwork on remote islands, abandoned places, refugee camps, and with nomadic communities. For example, trying to understand how space can be perceived in the absence of permanent constructions, I spent around a year in East Africa completing field research for a project and exhibition based on the Turkana nomads.

My ongoing is_Land project entails comprehensive field research in various remote islands, where I am examining these geographies both as physical spaces and as symbolic places. I am currently working on insular Patagonia, where I develop collaborative work with local communities, study the vernacular architecture, and aim to understand the nuances of these unique territories. While my creations stem from personal inquiries, I strive to address universal themes that resonate globally, making my work socially relevant to diverse audiences.

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