Photographer and visual artist Isabel Herrera depicts the kind of truth found only in dreams. Raised in Guatemala City, she’s known for her ethereal instant photography and surreal compositions made from Polaroid emulsion lifts applied to various fabrics and metals. She is attuned to life’s uncertainties—a subject she often explores in her work. Her photos seem to evoke both stillness and imminent action simultaneously: words not yet said, changes waiting to happen. “There’s a harmony that exists in this world,” she says, “whether I pay attention to it or not.”
In 2016, Herrera survived a near-fatal car accident that marked a major shift in her approach to life: She began to live more fully, exhibit more regularly, and connect with a global community of Polaroid artists who share her passion for the medium. “Instant photography slows me down. And so many things happen that I don’t expect: discolorations, little surprises. But those mistakes are what make the final image significant or valuable to me.” Herrera’s work has been exhibited at Guatemala’s Sol del Rio Contemporary Art Gallery, Juannio’s annual Contemporary Latin American Art Auction, and international instant photography festivals in Germany, France, Italy, and the UK.
