1st place
gold star award
Guylaine Couttolenc
mexico 
title
Kalia
I learned from my father to love and cohabit with nature through the joy, respect, and care for our environment. He was an avid camper and had a strong spirituality. For him, nature was everything.
From my mother, I learned to observe, to contemplate, and to marvel at the aesthetics of nature. She was a well-known sculptor who transferred this contemplation to her own artistic development. She studied deeply the geometry and organic forms of different aspects of nature to create her imposing monumental sculptures that have transcended worldwide intervening spaces in different countries such as Canada, the United States, China, England among others.
From this inheritance, the organic and perfect forms of nature have always accompanied me, consciously and unconsciously. I have a strong visual background.
Photography has always been for me a discipline of artistic expression and a vehicle that helps me to stop to contemplate and observe my environment thus achieving a deep assimilation of what surrounds me.
KALIA, beauty in Greek, is a visual tribute to the perfection of the small natural treasures that surround us but sometimes go unnoticed in our rushed everyday lives. Through light, contrast, and finding a certain angle to find its amazing organic forms, I was able to capture its beauty and transform it into majest
Through large and medium format prints, I invite the viewer to pause and observe the minimum as the maximum expression of nature, thus admiring this spectacle that surrounds us.
She worked at the photo library of the Academia of San Carlos, at Lowe&Partners advertising Agency and at Time Expansion Inc as photographic editor for Quien Magazine. She was the founder of Banco Mexicano de Imágenes (BMI), one of the leading image bank in Mexico.
Guylaine has participated in numerous exhibitions including a solo exhibition and 20 group exhibitions. In 2017, she was selected as invited artist at the UPA Gallery in the United States. In 2018, she was selected to participate in a group exhibition titled Self-portrait at the Middlebury Gallery. Vermont, USA.
She has won international recognition for her work, including awards from Arte Joven and The Photographic Salon of Japan. Her stock photography is represented by Getty Images and Agefotostock in Spain.
She has been teaching photography at the ITESM University in the city of Queretaro for 18 years, evaluated as the best teacher for five consecutive semesters. In 2020, she finished the Master of Fine Arts in Photography program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA.
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entry description
From a very young age, coexistence with nature has been a very important pillar in my life. It has been my companion and my refuge. This, thanks to my parents with whom we camped countless times in locations devoid of any sort of civilization, whether it be on beaches or in mountains.I learned from my father to love and cohabit with nature through the joy, respect, and care for our environment. He was an avid camper and had a strong spirituality. For him, nature was everything.
From my mother, I learned to observe, to contemplate, and to marvel at the aesthetics of nature. She was a well-known sculptor who transferred this contemplation to her own artistic development. She studied deeply the geometry and organic forms of different aspects of nature to create her imposing monumental sculptures that have transcended worldwide intervening spaces in different countries such as Canada, the United States, China, England among others.
From this inheritance, the organic and perfect forms of nature have always accompanied me, consciously and unconsciously. I have a strong visual background.
Photography has always been for me a discipline of artistic expression and a vehicle that helps me to stop to contemplate and observe my environment thus achieving a deep assimilation of what surrounds me.
KALIA, beauty in Greek, is a visual tribute to the perfection of the small natural treasures that surround us but sometimes go unnoticed in our rushed everyday lives. Through light, contrast, and finding a certain angle to find its amazing organic forms, I was able to capture its beauty and transform it into majest
Through large and medium format prints, I invite the viewer to pause and observe the minimum as the maximum expression of nature, thus admiring this spectacle that surrounds us.
about the photographer
Born in Mexico City (1973) and based in the city of Queretaro, Guylaine Couttolenc has been an artistic and commercial photographer for 25 years. She studied photography at the Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporaneo, the Kodak School, the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and at the Speos School of Photography in Paris.She worked at the photo library of the Academia of San Carlos, at Lowe&Partners advertising Agency and at Time Expansion Inc as photographic editor for Quien Magazine. She was the founder of Banco Mexicano de Imágenes (BMI), one of the leading image bank in Mexico.
Guylaine has participated in numerous exhibitions including a solo exhibition and 20 group exhibitions. In 2017, she was selected as invited artist at the UPA Gallery in the United States. In 2018, she was selected to participate in a group exhibition titled Self-portrait at the Middlebury Gallery. Vermont, USA.
She has won international recognition for her work, including awards from Arte Joven and The Photographic Salon of Japan. Her stock photography is represented by Getty Images and Agefotostock in Spain.
She has been teaching photography at the ITESM University in the city of Queretaro for 18 years, evaluated as the best teacher for five consecutive semesters. In 2020, she finished the Master of Fine Arts in Photography program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA.
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