OUKA LEELE

ARTISTIC JOURNEY

Ouka Leele (b. 1957, Madrid), was a Spanish photographer whose real name is Barbara Allende Gil de Biedma. Even though she wanted to be a painter, she discovered photography as a medium to express her natural and intensive artistic sensitivity. It is in the 1980s in Madrid during the nation's "Movida" movement when she demonstrated her interest in a variety of artistic disciplines such as drawing, serigraphy, painting, and literature resulting in a series of photos labeled as "icons of her time". Her unedited photos that are often additionally hand-painted are an attempt to show human nature and to reveal the connections between life, emotions, and its translations in art language.

She was awarded the 2004 Culture Prize by the Community of Madrid and the 2005 National Photography Award and her works can be found in a number of collections including Collection Arco (Madrid), Foundation Cartier (Paris), Foundation La Caixa (Barcelona), Cervantes Institute (Lisbon), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid), etc.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 "Una movida Bárbara". Museo di Roma in (Trastevere, Roma) 2019 SIMORGH exhibition by OUKA LEELE, Hamid rug gallery. (Madrid) 2018 "Have to play the void" Gallery Snell's law. Exhibits in the Ignacio Zuloaga room. 2016 "Travellers of my Galaxy" at the Galería Fernández-Braso. 2015 "WHERE THE LIGHT TAKES ME" project Miradas de Asturias, patron of the Foundation María CrisCna Masaveu Peterson 2014 “A Cruel Banquet. PourQoui?”, in the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid. “The Transgressive Utopia” in the Moscow photography biennale. 2013 “Miradas de Asturias” with the Masaveu Foundation

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 "Summertime Soirée," Espinasse31 (Madrid, Spain) 2023 TaoHuaTan Residency Program, Kurume Art Gallery, Hefei, (China) Candiani Prize, SAC Spazio Arte Contemporanea, (Milan, IT) Intimate bodies, Fanep and Neuropsychiatry department, (Bologna, IT) Discourse of War, Artwork Gallery, (Kiev, Ukraine) 2022 Arca, S.Lucia Church, Archdiocese of Frosinone, (Ferentino, IT)  Pack and Go, Valona Italian Consulate Albania, Centro Luigi di Sarro Roma IIC Amsterdam Trova il dipinto, Bellaria Hospital, Department of Radiology and Senology, AUSL Bologna, (Bologna, IT) Terre Sconnesse, Galleria Civica Villavalle, TesteMobili, (Valdagno, IT) 2021 1.5 + Diorama, with Tatiana Kockmur, Hupa Brajdič, Slovenia Ministry of culture, Podhod Ajdovščina, (Lubiana, Slovenia) Combat Prize 2021, Villa Mimbelli, Livorno Una vita che ti RI-cerco, Paratissima Art Station, (Turin, IT) 2020 TRK, Salsaverde Gallery, (Izola, Slovenia) 2019 Sulcis, Ottovolante Gallery, (Sant’Antioco Island, IT) Partecipare ad arte, Ottovolante Gallery, Art City (Bologna, IT) 2018 In Cielo Finito, Air Montevideo, by Ass.Ottovolante, (Montevideo, Uruguay) Quotidiana bellezza Archaeological Museum Villanovaforru, Sardinia with MiBACT and AMACI XIV Giornata del Contemporaneo 2017 Take me i’m yours, by Christian Boltanski, Danilo Eccher, Car park Giuriolo, MAMBO (Bologna, IT)

ART FAIRS

2016 Shanghai Photo Fair with the Art and Shanghai gallery. 2015 ART-MADRID, Madrid.