Hello. My name is Sofia Valiente and I'm a photographer and storyteller based in Los Angeles. I received my BFA in Art from Florida Int'l University in Miami in 2012 and my MFA in Visual Arts from University of California, Riverside in 2024. My first book, Miracle Village, was published in 2014 by Fabrica, where I had the opportunity of a year-long residency at their photography department. In 2015, I received the World Press Photo award for Miracle Village (1st prize, portraits, stories). I am a two-time recipient of the South Florida Cultural Consortium Artist Fellowship and in 2015, I received Burn Magazine’s Young Talent Award.
In 2019, I self-published Foreverglades and debuted my 41-foot steamboat replica, public art exhibition in downtown West Palm Beach, FL. This work was supported by the Knight Foundation through the Knight Arts Challenge award and the State of Florida through an Individual Artist grant.
I'm currently working on an experimental documentary film that uses collaboration and memory to create a psychological depiction of life inside therapeutic boarding schools.
I'm available for assignment in South Florida, Southern California and beyond. My work has been published in The NY Times, Time Lightbox, Bloomberg Businessweek, VICE, the Guardian, Internazionale, El Mundo, Smithsonian Magazine, American Photo Mag, Financial Times, Oxford Magazine, the Marshall Project, Quartz, Business Insider, and the British Journal of Photography among other outlets.
For inquires, please email valiente.sofia (at) gmail.com
For print sales from Miracle Village and Foreverglades please contact Daniel Blau Gallery, Munich:
Maximilianstr. 26
80539 München
phone +49 89 / 29 73 42
fax +49 89 / 24 20 48 60
Thanks for visiting my site!
Recent Commissions:
NY Times. They Were Proud Houston Homeowners. Then It All Fell Apart.
The Washington Post. Diesel big rigs have belched smog for years. California may soon ban them.
The Washington Post. Unpaid caregivers: How America treats women caring for paralyzed partners
Publications:
2023 TRBL photozine with Sherman Indian High School students, Native American Boarding School in Riverside, CA
2019 Foreverglades photobook self-published, first edition 2,000 copies
2016 Rooted in the Muck, Stories from the Glades Communities booklet in partnership with Palm Beach County, first edition 3000 copies
2014 Miracle Village photobook published by Fabrica in Treviso, Italy/ First edition 500 copies
Awards:
2023-2021 Gluck Fellowship Max H Gluck Foundation, community service/arts outreach, three consecutive years
2021 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artist Fellowship
2020 National Geographic Society Storytelling Fellowship, nomination
2021 New York Portfolio Review New York Times
2019 Emergency Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, NYC
2019 Individual Artist Grant Florida Department of State- Division of Cultural Affairs
2017 Knight Arts Challenge Winner for Foreverglades (book and exhibition)
2016 America's Next Top Neighborhood Grant from the Office of Community Revitalization of Palm Beach County, grant to pay for Rooted in the Muck printing
2015 Inge Morath Award Finalist, Inge Morath and Magnum Foundation
2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artist Fellowship
2015 FujiFilm/Young Talent Award Winner, Burn Magazine
2015 World Press Photo 1st Prize Portraiture Story for Miracle Village
2015 Magenta Flash Forward Emerging Photographer Competition, USA Winner
2014 Magnum Days photo workshop scholarship at Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown
2013 Fabrica, Benetton's Communication Research Center, one-year photography scholarship in Treviso, Italy
Lectures/Workshops:
2022 Stacy Kranitz in conversation with Sofia Valiente, Art in the Park, Los Angeles
2021 Florida Woman X Documentary. Photo Talk w/ Pete Brook and Sofia Valiente, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center
2020 Norton Museum Artist Tour with Sofia Valiente during Art After Dark, West Palm Beach, FL
2020 Norton Museum Storytelling Workshop and Open Studio with Sofia Valiente, West Palm Beach, FL
2019 Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston The Photographer and Uncommon Access Panel
2015 World Press Photo Award Days Presentation, Miracle Village, Amsterdam
Exhibitions:
2023 Leaning on Luck at Book & Job Gallery in San Francisco
2023 Inland Empire at The Fulcrum in Chinatown, Los Angeles
2021 Foreverglades at Paris Photo in Paris, Daniel Blau Gallery Booth
2021 Foreverglades permanent installation at the Lawrence E. Will Museum, Belle Glade, FL. Donated to the City of Belle Glade by the artist.
2021 New Art: 2021 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship Visual and Media Artists Exhibition at the Schmidt and Ritter Art Galleries, Boca Raton, FL
2020 Foreverglades at Paris Photo New York, Pier 94, Manhattan (Canceled)
2019-20 Foreverglades exhibit and installation at the Stub Canal Turning Basin, West Palm Beach, FL
2019 Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South traveling exhibition, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston
2018 Federal Project No. 2 at Photoville Festival at the Bridge in Brooklyn Bridge Park
2017 Miracle Village at Fotodocs Documentary Photography Festival in Munich, Germany
2016 VICE Magazine’s 15th Annual Photo Show featuring images from Foreverglades
2015 Sofia Valiente/Miracle Village at Galerie Meyer, Paris (Photo St- Germain during Paris Photo)
2015 La Fabrica del Presente/Miracle Village at Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome
2015 Fabrica: Sofia Valiente. "Miracle Village" at Fotofestiwal 2015 Lodz, Poland
2015 World Press Photo 2015 Photo Contest traveling exhibit, De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
2015 AIPAD NYC fair, Miracle Village at Daniel Blau Gallery booth
2015 New Art: 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Exhibition, FAU Schmidt Center Gallery, Boca Raton
2015 Alternative Contemporaneity: TAZ (group exhibition)at Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
2015 Jin Jing City and Miracle Village at Daniel Blau Gallery, London
2014 5 UNDER 30 at Daniel Blau Gallery, London
2014 Freshly Squeezed at Dina Mitrani Gallery, Wynwood/Miami
2012 All & Sundry at The Frost Art Museum,Miami
Education:
2021-24 MFA in Visual Arts at the University of California, Riverside
2011-12 BFA in Art (focus in Photography) Florida International University, Miami
2008-10 AA in Mass Communications Broward College, Fort Lauderdale
All Images © Sofia Valiente 2024