Sandra Astuena
I am an Argentine visual artist whose first professional path was law, with specialization in bioethics and the rights of children and adolescents. That stage shaped my interest in the social, cultural, and natural forces that intersect human experience—elements that continue to appear in my work. I later studied Visual Arts at IUNA, focusing on printmaking.
Growing up surrounded by river landscapes and greenery shaped my sensitivity to natural cycles, resilience, and the interconnectedness of life, themes that inform my artistic practice.
My transition into art took form with my first group exhibition at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in 1998 during the COP IV on Climate Change. Since 2011, I have worked in contemporary printmaking and lithography at the Centro de Edición. I have participated in residencies, workshops and clinics internationally, and received distinctions such as the Special Mention in Printmaking at the Manuel Belgrano Salon (2024).
My practice explores the relationship between nature, memory, and matter as a space of resonance and transformation.
Our Worlds (Ancestors V - 04/2025)
Our Worlds begins from the idea that every choice opens one possible reality while leaving all others in a state of potential.
A decision does not only shape the present: it creates a new world, with experiences, relationships, and futures that did not exist before.
The installation proposes a space where what we choose and what remains unexperienced coexist as simultaneous layers.
Nothing disappears: each option activates a path while keeping others latent, reminding us that we inhabit only one of the many lives we could live.
Parientes Lejanas (NAT Art Residence - 10/2023)
When I was a wee child
I would get lost in the night sky
Searching among the heavens for my star
One night, I discovered some that were in pairs
And would see them once and again together
A larger star would always appear
In the company of a smaller one
I was ignorant of the names of those heavenly bodies
Only then did I realize...
That those stars were mine
Same as those birthmarks I was born with, in pairs
As those I later discovered on my children
Those distant relatives that nodded and winked at me
When I watched
And who had been with me since I was born.
Fragrance New Life (Ancestors II - 03/2022)
That rain that brings fecundity,
Returns
A new cycle is baptized with a fragrant new life that brings its welcome.
The drought ends
Fragrances are reborn
Promptly followed by vibrant colors
And sounds in harmony
For a time, everything remains before bringing forth another time
Other perfumes and other colors,
That once again precede the next drought,
Finite and without boundaries,
But necessary
for the return of that life-giving, original perfume
