BIO
Alma Rayén Molina Carvajal (Chile, 1984) is an art engagement specialist, cultural manager, visual artist, and mother of two kids. With formal studies in Art Theory, Art History, and Education, as well as being self-taught, Alma has developed art mediation practices that link artists, artworks, and cultural institutions with communities and people.
In recent years, Alma has focused on visual art pieces inspired by feminist artists and feminist spaces, developing a “right here, right now” aesthetic. Using non-academic language, she documents daily routines and everyday life using tools she has at hand — cell phone pictures, videos, audio recordings, scribbles, quick notes in notebooks, improv dances, and small performances — which she later mixes into digital collages and videos.
Since 2021, Alma has lived in Charlottesville, VA. She was part of the New City Arts Initiative Fellowship, where she exhibited “Astronaut_Mom” in April 2022. From September 2022, she worked as a member of the artist team for the augmented reality art project “Unsettling Grounds.” She has also collaborated on collages for the artzine “Mala Leche.”
In 2024, Alma presented The American Conquer / La Conquista de América*, a video installation exploring the construction of memory and trauma, at the Ruffin Gallery at UVA. She has since continued working on digital video pieces such as* Samsara*, exploring emotional spaces and perimenopause, developed through creative accompaniment with artist Natalia Iguiñez and curator Luisa Fuentes Guaza. In 2026, Alma self-published the book* Tácticas para crear en el apocalipsis (Tactics for Creating in the Apocalypse), revisiting biographical moments alongside creative practice suggestions for sustaining life.
Statement
I have partnered with artists and communities as an art engagement specialist, manager, educator, and curator for many years. Throughout this time, I have learned and tested different approaches to art investigation and connecting artists, artworks, and people. From there, I began experimenting with the idea of art engagement as a practice that can be considered creation itself. Thanks to the feminist art conceptual framework, I could experiment with my own non-academic visual language as a way to reflect on personal issues that take hold in social problems.
As a result, I have begun work driven by a strong sense of urgency and emergency that I have carried all my life, but which took on a new form and importance when I became a mother. This impulse has driven me to document daily routines and everyday life using tools that I had on hand, such as cell phone pictures, videos, audio recordings, scribbles, quick notes over notebooks, improv dances, and small performances. In the end, I mixed everything into digital collages edited in the same non-expert way, which I call a “right here, right now” aesthetic.
In that sense, my work has been triggered by my maternity, not only as a thematic subject, but also as visual research that assumes and shows my personal material conditions. For instance, the lack of exclusive time and space to work and create in simultaneity with the endless caregiving tasks of a housewife and mother of two.
Since 2021, I have been living as a migrant in the United States, which has opened a space of self-reflection around identities and belongings that are starting to permeate my research. Additionally, I have started using Artificial Intelligence images and video tools adding an external eye and dimension to my work.
Alma Rayén Molina Carvajal (Chile, 1984) es especialista en mediación artística, gestora cultural, artista visual y madre de dos hijos. Con estudios formales en Teoría del Arte, Historia del Arte y Educación, además de ser autodidacta, Alma ha desarrollado prácticas de mediación artística que vinculan a artistas, obras e instituciones culturales con comunidades y personas.
En los últimos años, Alma se ha enfocado en piezas de arte visual inspiradas en artistas y espacios feministas, desarrollando una estética de “aquí y ahora”. Usando un lenguaje no académico, documenta rutinas diarias y la vida cotidiana con las herramientas que tiene a mano —fotos y videos de celular, grabaciones de audio, garabatos, apuntes rápidos en cuadernos, bailes improvisados y pequeñas performances— que luego mezcla en collages y videos digitales.
Desde 2021, Alma vive en Charlottesville, VA. Formó parte del New City Arts Initiative Fellowship, donde expuso “Astronaut_Mom” en abril de 2022. Desde septiembre de 2022, trabajó como parte del equipo artístico del proyecto de realidad aumentada “Unsettling Grounds”. También ha colaborado con collages para la artzine “Mala Leche”.
En 2024, Alma presentó The American Conquer / La Conquista de América*, una videoinstalación que explora la construcción de la memoria y el trauma, en el Ruffin Gallery de UVA. Desde entonces ha seguido trabajando en piezas de video digital como* Samsara*, sobre espacios emocionales y la perimenopausia, desarrollada en acompañamiento creativo con la artista Natalia Iguiñez y la curadora Luisa Fuentes Guaza. En 2026, Alma autopublicó el libro* Tácticas para crear en el apocalipsis*, que revisa momentos biográficos junto a sugerencias de prácticas creativas para sostener la vida.*
Contact
almarayen@gmail.com
