Portrait by Antonina Polukhina 2025, Krzyżowa (Poland)
Seila Fernández Arconada is a multidisciplinary artist-researcher whose practice focuses on contemporary socio ecological uncertainties influenced by climatic shifts, societal disputes and extractive actions towards Nature, specially in bodies of water.
Through situated collaborations, her practice aims to address these pressing socio ecological challenges by nurturing transdisciplinarity, (eco)socially engaged praxis and complex system thinking informed by sustainable and decolonial approaches, ecofeminism, ecosocial justice, conflict management and trauma-informed practices. By combining artistic techniques with research process-based methodologies, she offers carefully created “in between spaces” for embodied learning, collective empowerment as seeds for ecosocial renewal where "natural belonging" is a vital essence. This work lives in the interception of artistic practices, formal and non formal education and ecological/humanitarian practices.
She has exhibited internationally as well as leading numerous multidisciplinary workshops and interventions, including Migration, Identity and Belonging (Institut Français, Maurice), Natural Camp (Role Models Ukraine), Wonder, Wander (Jordan), On Earth (UK), AGU (USA), Communities Development in Post-Crisis Regions (Ukraine), Governing for Resilience in Vulnerable Places (Netherlands), "Colombia BioResilience: Biodiversity resilience and ecosystem services in post-conflict socio-ecological systems in Colombia" and Transnational Dialogues (China) among others.
Participatory and collaborative research methodologies with professionals from other disciplines and community members are vital in her practice. Seila has co-created transdisciplinary projects such "The Land of the Summer People" together with Prof. Thorsten Wagener and the Water Engineering Department of the University of Bristol (UK) and "Some:when, Celebrating Cohesion through the Watery Heritage of the Somerset Levels and Moors, a collaboration with the artist Sage Brice and flood affected people in Somerset (UK).
Recently, she has led the project “#EstudioFlotante, cuando el río suena a Amazonas” (2019-22) taking place at the Amazon River in Peru, Colombia and Brazil. In 2023, she led the international project "Post Truth, Countering Disinformation Narratives" coordinating and curating all the editions in Ukraine, Poland, Germany and France. Currently she leads “Dnipro River, Ecosocial belonging in Wartime” (Ukraine) and “O Fio da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures” selected by EU-funded S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION among others.
She is member of many international networks and collectives including PLaCE International research consortium, RUTA Association, Functional Collaborative Futures Collective, Research Group Art Research and Feminisms at the University of the Basque Country, Movimiento Cultural Iguña, etc. as well as Art Therapy Force where she often works as a mentor in Ukraine.
Recent academic publications include:
- Riding the Tide, socially engaged Art and resilience in an uncertain future, collaborative academic paper written by Seila Fernández Arconada and Sage Brice (2017)
- "Navegando entre realidades acuosas" (Navigating between watery realities) a solo written piece, chapter for the publication "De las Calles un Museo" ("From the Streets a Museum") presented to the public on September 2024 in Santander (Spain).
- “Decolonise Nature, artistic actions from the territories-bodies-earth for ecosocial rebalance” (2023), solo chapter and a collaborative paper "Weaving spaces of dialogue and decolonial creation in the here and now. Public action When yesterday is today, Body, memory and territory”. for the book "Me la pelas, Kant: Reflexiones sobre decolonialidad y feminismo en el arte y la investigación universitaria"
- "#ExistenceOnSearch: Multispecies encounters and knowledge dialogue at the in-between space" (20 19) collaborative paper by Seila Fernández Arconada and Santiago Martinez Medina for Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology & Computing online publication.
Awards: Her work has been supported and awarded by international organisations such Botin Foundation Art Production Grant, European Alternatives, the Artists’ International Fund of the British Council and Arts Council England, Moore Institute Visiting Fellowship (Ireland), Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Germany and Basque Center for Climate Change, etc.
Brief CV focused on a selection of collaborations, trainings as well as academic engagements:
| Short CV SeilaFdzA 2025.pdf |
CLICK HERE to know more about her INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION
“In the face of growing socio ecological challenges, it is crucial to reevaluate our narratives and practices. By adopting transdisciplinary approaches, we can develop innovative questions (leading to solutions) that address the interconnectedness of socio ecological concerns. Artistic languages can provide unique perspectives, allowing us to explore alternative ways of understanding these challenges while embodying them.
Artistic spaces are experiential, experimental and permeable, they are transformative approaches for those who experience it, creating long lasting bonds and collective meaning. As one of the stewards of our time, I keep creating such spaces as I believe that Artistic practices have power and potential to create a more sustainable and equitable future.”
Seila Fernández Arconada
Photo by Nelli Mynasova