Mara Palena

Mara Palena lives and works in Milan. Her research focuses on themes such as memory, remembrance and identity. In her installations and mixed-media works, photography, sound and video are the starting tools, which she then manipulates and alters to question the concepts of memory and individuality. Using archival material, she seeks a link between the personal and the collective, between introspection and connection. Her work has been shown at numerous international festivals, spaces and galleries, including Careof and Marsèll Paradise, Milan; Recontemporary, Turin; Guardian Art Center, Beijing; and MOPLA, Los Angeles. Between 2021 and 2023 she was a finalist for several prizes and awards, including the Combat Prize, Premio Fabbri and New Post Photography. Her project Oikeiôsis, edited and published by Witty Books in 2023, won the 2022 Surprize award from Sprint and the Fondazione Marcelo Burlon and was shortlisted for best photobook of the year 2024 by PHotoESPAÑA.