María Fernanda Chacón Rivera is a visual artist who lives and works between Madrid and Havana. She holds a degree in Visual Arts from the University of the Arts of Cuba (ISA, 2024) and a Master’s Degree in Art and the Art Market from the Complutense University of Madrid (2026).

Her artistic practice begins with the relationship between personal history and collective memory. Through archives, images, objects, and historical events, she investigates how events are recorded, represented, remembered, and transmitted, as well as the influence these processes exert on the present. In her works, the biographical and the historical are juxtaposed to examine the contradictions, omissions, and displacements upon which official narratives are constructed.

She critically revisits Cuban history, marked by the persecution of artistic expression and the regulation of public discourse. She is interested in examining the distance that emerges between political projects and their historical consequences, particularly when their promises remain embedded in discourse while the reality they sought to transform begins to unravel. Cuban history functions as a field from which she establishes connections with other processes of migration, censorship, and ideological production.

Language occupies a central place in this process, in relation to other systems of representation such as images, archives, and objects. She considers it not merely a means of representation, but a structure through which power organizes reality, legitimizes certain versions of the past, and conditions the possibilities for their interpretation. At the same time, she is interested in its capacity to alter these narratives, establish different relationships between events, and make their fissures visible.

Her practice is not limited to a single medium but is shaped by the operations proposed by each project. Throughout her creative process, she employs photography, video, installation, painting, and object-making, drawing on pre-existing materials—including documents, images, historical records, objects, and other elements of visual culture—which she displaces from their original contexts.

She has presented solo exhibitions such as Pasado Meridiano (La Carpintería de Clandestina, Havana, 2024) and has participated in group exhibitions in Cuba, Spain, and Panama, including Etcéteras abanderados (Estudio Abierto 22.0, Carlos Garaicoa, Madrid, 2025), Irse lejos es volver (Fundación Los Carbonell, Panama, 2025), and Post-It 11 (Galería Galiano, Havana, 2024), where she received First Prize and the Acquisition Award.

Her work is held in the collection of Fundación Los Carbonell (Panama), as well as in private collections in the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Mexico.

Education

2025–2026
MA in Art and the Art Market
Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

2020–2024
BFA in Visual Arts
University of the Arts (ISA), Cuba

2016–2020
Leopoldo Romañach Academy of Fine Arts, Cuba
Specialization in Painting

Awards, Scholarships, and Residencies

2026. Artist Residency, SOMA Summer, Mexico City, Mexico.

2026. Carla Herrera Prats Scholarship, SOMA Summer, Mexico City, Mexico.

2026. Artist Residency, FAR Residency, Ávila, Spain.

2024. Artist Residency, Artexchange Festival, Madrid, Spain.

2024. First Prize, Post-It 11, Havana, Cuba.

2024. Acquisition Award, Post-It 11, Havana, Cuba.

Selected Collections

2024. Fundación Los Carbonell, Panama.

Solo Exhibitions

2024.Pasado Meridiano. La Carpintería de Clandestina, Havana, Cuba.

2020.Ruinas Virtuales. Centro Provincial de Artes Visuales, Cuba.

2019.Con algo de Fluxus 1, 2, III…. Galería Pórtico, Cuba.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026.Anniversaire, Friends & Family Gallery, Bordeaux, France.

2026.Madness as Method, Disassembling Empire, NYLAAT, New York, United States.

2026.El día después de Ozymandias, Calore, Havana, Cuba.

2026.Necesitas tiempo. La Cristalería, Madrid, Spain.

2026.Mirar lo otro: narrativas de la investigación. Fundación Pons, Madrid, Spain.

2026.Nunca se sabe. Wifredo Lam Center for Contemporary Art, Havana, Cuba.

2025.HB. Galería La Nave, Havana, Cuba.

2025.Días felices. Infraestudio, Havana, Cuba.

2025.Fragmentos Vivos. Fábrica de Arte Cubano, Havana, Cuba.

2025.De la Isla a la Luna 2.0. Festival Isla Verde, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba.

2025.Etcéteras abanderados. Estudio Abierto 22.0 Carlos Garaicoa, Madrid, Spain.

2025.Irse lejos es volver. Fundación Los Carbonell, Panama.

2025.All together. Fábrica de Arte Cubano, Havana, Cuba.

2024.The Cuban art Hub. Galería Taller Gorria, Havana, Cuba.

2024.Limbo. Pabellón Cuba, 15th Havana Biennial, Cuba.

2024.Artexchange Festival. Galería Nueva Carabanchel, Madrid, Spain.

2024.Mala Yerba II Edición. Salón Blanco Gallery, Fondo de Arte Joven, Havana, Cuba.

2024.Punto Cubano. Ybor Art Factory, Tampa, United States.

2024.Post-It Edición 11. Galería Galiano, Havana, Cuba.

2024.Sin despedidas. Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba.

2024.The show must go on. Galería Servando, Havana, Cuba.

2023.HB Muestra de arte contemporáneo cubano. Galería La Nave, Havana, Cuba.

2023.Fake Gun (True Shoot). El Arsenal, Havana, Cuba.

2023.Don’t look. Puzzle 3ra Edición, Galería Taller Gorria, Havana, Cuba.

2022.Vértigo. Galería Taller Gorria, Havana, Cuba.

2022.Trazos de trueque. Galería ISA, University of the Arts, Havana, Cuba.

2022.Sigue al Conejo Blanco. Zona ISA, 14th Havana Biennial, Cuba.

2022.Refricare. Former Ciervo Encantado Theatre, University of the Arts, Official Project of the 14th Havana Biennial, Zona ISA, Cuba.

2022.Reencuentro. Galería Pórtico, Hermanos Saíz Association, Santa Clara, Cuba.

2022.Parientes cercanos. Gibara International Film Festival, Cuba.

2022.Estuario. Former Ciervo Encantado Theatre, University of the Arts, Havana, Cuba.

2022.Encuentros colaborativos transoceánicos. Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

2022.Digital Summer Show. The Museum of Contemporary Digital Art (MoCDA).

2022.Calca2 en la naturaleza: gráfica para la sustentabilidad. Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

2022.Barniz Blando. National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), Havana, Cuba.

2022.Accidentes creativos Bosquearte. Orriols Municipal Youth Center, Valencia, Spain.

2021.Línea de Kármán. Telegram Bot.

2021.Arte en proceso, X edición. Eduardo Abela Provincial Center for Visual Arts, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba.

2020.Sucesiva. Proyecto Dentro del Juego, Provincial Center for Visual Arts, Santa Clara, Cuba.

2020.Remake de Sucesiva. Provincial Center for Visual Arts, Santa Clara, Cuba.