The Nicaraguan artist Patricia Belli has been recognized with the Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts 2025, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
The jury highlighted the “profound impact of his work in the Latin American context, especially in Central America, and his commitment to training and artistic sensitivity in environments of social fragility.”
The jury also highlighted how his work, focused on the memory of the body, the scar of fear and shame, and cultural activism, has been a decisive reference for several generations of artists.
Born in Nicaragua in 1964, Patricia Belli earned a Master’s Degree in Visual Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute (2001).
His work explores tensions between opposites—oppressor and oppressed, pleasure and pain, nature and civilization—and dialogues with the collective unconscious from sensoriality and reflection on power.
Throughout his career he has participated in fundamental exhibitions for Central American art, such as Mesotica II (1996-1997), Politics of difference (2001-2002) y Doubtful Strait (2006), three exhibitions of historical relevance for the process of visibility of Central American art in those years.
She was also invited to the Biennials of Havana (1989 and 2000), Central America and the Caribbean (Domingo Santo, 1994 and 2001), Lima (1997), Cuenca (2011), Ireland (2018), Berlin (2018) and FEMSA, Mexico (2020-21) and to the 58th Carnegie International.
His work is part of international collections such as the Tate Gallery (UK), Kadist (France), CIFO (USA), and FEMSA (Mexico).
In 2001 he founded EspIRA, a space dedicated to the critical and sensitive training of artists, whose influence lasted for two decades in the Central American contemporary art scene.
The Velázquez Prize, endowed with 100,000 euros, recognizes a vital career in the field of plastic arts and its contribution to Ibero-American cultural development.
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