joelr.jj@outlook.com
IG: @joelr.jj
Joel Jimenez (b. 1993, Costa Rica) is an artist and filmmaker based in Madrid, Spain. His interdisciplinary practice combines photography, film and installation, integrating historical research and environmental psychology to explore the complex dynamics between humans and their surroundings. His work focuses on spaces with layered identities and stagnant conditions, challenging linear historical narratives and dissecting the imprints of trauma and power embedded in these landscapes.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including PhotoEspaña (Madrid, 2021), PhotoVogue (Milan, 2024), Paris Photo (Paris, 2024), Les Boutographies (Montpellier, 2022), among others. He has been featured in publications like British Journal of Photography, Der Greif, GUP Magazine and Revista Balam. He is the recipient of the Paris Photo Carte Blanche Étudiants Award (2024).
His films have been screened in festivals such as Aegean Film Festival (GR), INTHEPALACE Film Festival (BG), D’A Film Festival (ES), Signs of the Night (TH), and ARKIPEL Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival (ID), among others.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 “Castle of Innocence”, Art Photo Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2021 “Castle of Innocence”, Photo Open Up, Padua, Italy
2021 “Castle of Innocence”, PHE. PhotoEspaña, Madrid, Spain
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 PhotoVogue Festival, “Panorama Latino-Americano”, Milan, Italy (screening) (upcoming)
2024 Paris Photo, Gare du Nord, Paris, France
2024 Festival La Nuu, Screen, Barcelona, Spain (screening)
2024 Kranj Photo Fest, Kranj, Slovenia (screening)
2023 Les Nuits Photographiques de Pierrevert, Pierrevert, France (screening)
2022 Les Boutographies, Pavillon Populaire, Montpellier, France
2022 PhMuseum Days, “Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow”, Bologna, Italy (screening)
2022 Unbound11!, Candela Gallery, Virginia, United States
2021 Fresh Eyes, Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2021 Noorderlicht International Photo Festival, “The Makeable Mind”, Groningen, Netherlands
2021 Jakarta International Photo Festival, “Space”, Jakarta, Indonesia
2021 “Nexus”, XLVI Space (online exhibition)
2020 Singapore International Photo Festival, “Departing and Arriving”, Singapore, Singapore
2019 Sony World Photography Awards, Medellin, Colombia
2019 Head On Photo Festival, Sidney, Australia
2019 Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, “Este paisaje si lo puedo entender”, Costa Rica
2018 LensCulture Emerging Photography Awards, Klompching Gallery, New York, United States
2018 Photo Is:rael, “Relations”, Tel Aviv, Israel
2018 La Fototeca, “La Herida del Tiempo”, Guatemala City, Guatemala
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2024 Carte Blanche Students, Paris Photo, winner
2024 Panoramic, Open Panoramic, finalist
2024 PhotoAlicante, Collection, winner
2024 PhotoVogue, “Panorama Latino-Americano”, shortlisted artist
2024 BUP Book Award, shortlisted artist
2024 Athens Photo Festival, shortlisted artist
2024 Artist Meets Archive #4, Internationale Photoszene Koln, shortlisted artist
2024 Imaginaria Photo Festival, shortlisted artist
2023 Images Vevey Book Award, Images Vevey, shortlisted artist
2023 Passage AiR Programme, Passage, shortlisted artist
2023 Kursala 100, Cuadernos de la Kursala, shortlisted artist
2022 Landskrona Foto Autumn Residency, Landskrona Foto, runner-up
2022 SCAN Tarragona, Full Contact, portfolio review, selected artist
2021 Lucie Foundation Scholarship Program, Fine Art, shortlisted artist
2021 Photo Open Up, special mention
2021 Prix Levallois, nominee
2021 PhotoVogue Festival, “Reframing History”, portfolio review, selected artist
2021 Fresh Eyes GUP, selected artist
2021 Getxophoto, “To Share”, shortlisted artist
2021 PhMuseum Photography Grant, solo exhibition at PhMuseum Lab, shortlisted artist
2020 FORMAT21, “Control”, shortlisted artist
2020 Encontros da Imagem, Emergentes, portfolio review, selected artist
2020 Lenscratch Student Prize, Top 25 to Watch, selected artist
2020 PHE. PhotoEspaña, Discoveries, portfolio review, selected artist
2019 Belfast Photo Festival, “Truth and Lies”, shortlisted artist
2019 Head On Photo Festival, Landscape Prize, third prize
2018 LensCulture Emerging Talents Awards, selected artist
2018 PDN’s Emerging Photography Award, selected artist
PUBLICATIONS
2022 Lenscratch, Castle of Innocence project interview
2022 Der Greif, Guest Room curated by Kris Graves
2022 Phases Magazine, Castle of Innocence
2022 Discarded Magazine, Castle of Innocence
2021 British Journal of Photography, “Identities, realities, and space: XLVI”
2021 Lenscratch, Photographers on Photographers: Joel Jimenez in conversation with Alec Soth
2021 Fresh Eyes, GUP Magazine, (printed)
2021 Der Greif, Guest Room curated by Michael Mack and Sohrab Hura
2021 British Journal of Photography, “Reshaping meaning in Joel Jimenez’s Castle of Innocence”
2021 Fiiiirst, discussion with Virginie Rebetez
2021 Loupe Magazine, Issue 11: Belief, Castle of Innocence project interview
2020 Der Greif, Guest Room curated by Mariama Attah
2020 Yogurt Magazine, Castle of Innocence
2020 PhMuseum, “A Deep Meditation on the Power of Images” by Lucia De Stefani
2020 Revista Balam, “Mestizx” N°6 (printed)
2020 Lenscratch, The 2020 Lenscratch Top 25 to Watch
2020 The Heavy Collective, Castle of Innocence
2020 GUP, Castle of Innocence project interview by Linda Zhengová
2019 Booooooom, When the Dust Settles
2019 L’oeil de la Photographie, When the Dust Settles
2019 Artwort, “L’uomo, lo spazio e il tempo” by Laura Malaterra
2019 PhMuseum, “The Landscape as a Representation of Time and Memory”
2019 Phases Magazine, When the Dust Settles
2019 LensCulture, When the Dust Settles project interview by Cat Lachowskyj
2019 C41 Magazine, “Joel Jimenez and the nostalgic relationship we have with the places we live”
2018 PHROOM, When the Dust Settles
2018 Aint Bad, When the Dust Settles
2018 PDN’s Emerging Photographer, Vol. 10, N°2, Rangefinder (printed)
EDUCATION
2022 B.A. in Cinematography, ESCAC. Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia, Spain
2019 B.A. in Photography (high honors), Veritas University, Costa Rica