PPP Fridays@2: A Conversation with Bella Varela

Join PPP's Fridays@2 speaker series for a conversation with College of Fine Arts Early Career Fellow Bella Varela.

The Performance as Public Practice Fridays@2 speaker series facilitates discussions about the creation and study of performance. PPP welcomes artists from within and beyond the Winship Drama Building, including current students, distinguished alumni and arts leaders from across the country, to share their research and methodology. Up next is a conversation with Texas-based artist and COFA Early Career Fellow Bella Varela.

About Bella Varela

Bella Maria Varela is an artist based in El Paso and Austin whose research uses video and cultural objects to explore the intersections of immigration, sexuality and gender identity through the lens of contemporary pop culture and mass media. Varela was born and raised in inner-city Washington, D.C and is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants. She is the proud owner/parent of two dachshund mixes named Darla and Ifwe.   

In 2022, Varela moved to El Paso to attend the Border Art Residency (BAR), and during her time there, she also served as an arts facilitator with the Philosophic Systems Institute (PSI). With the PSI team, she helped establish a new arts and philosophy program, Transformative Learning Communities, in el Chamizal — a barrio on the U.S./Mexico Border. Her teaching focuses on combining found objects, digital, photography, green screen performances and experimental video into non-traditional and virtual classroom environments to guide students to explore their relationship with identity, culture and community. 

Varela graduated from the Photo, Video and Imaging Master’s program at the University of Arizona School of Art. In 2020, she received first place in the 5 Minute Film Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Tucson for her work, Triathlon. During spring 2021, she was accepted into the Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellowship Program and exhibited her work @border_becky at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. In 2022, she exhibited @border_becky at the Cristian Anthony Vallejo (CAV) Memorial Gallery in Las Cruces and other galleries in the El Paso area. This fall, Varela served as stage manager for the play Conchita and Rosita at the Scottish Rite Theater and will be an exhibiting artist at Soy de Tejas at the Centro de Artes Gallery in San Antonio opening in February 2023 and running through July 2023. 

DATE

February 24 at 2:00 p.m.
WIN 2.112

A virtual option for attending this session is available via Zoom.

Join the Conversation Virtually