Miami Loves Different: Art Basel Miami Beach with Desigual & Carlota Guerrero

We traveled to Miami where we met Carlota Guerrero, prior the performance she directed for Desigual. We discussed her inspirations, favourite kissing movie scenes & hair obsession.

http://carlotaguerrero.com
https://www.artbasel.com/miami-beach
https://www.desigual.com

Hello Carlota, can you take a selfie for us?

Can you tell me about your collaboration with Desigual?

The concept was:

Love Different.

They asked me to direct a performance that would introduce their new collection, and gave me total freedom in a totally artistic way. So, I explored kissing as a universal sign for love, and it’s a performance of 30 people on top of a structure that embodies the old Desigual symbol. These are the elements, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen but it’s going to be a very spiritual experience – a trance. I’m not in love with the more superficial parts of fashion, or the events or glamour so, my goal was to introduce a spiritual experience inside this world.

What is your role exactly?

I directed the whole thing.

Did you know Desigual before?

Of course, I’m from Barcelona!

Have you worked with them before?

No, it’s my first time. But, I have a good relationship with them and a lot of my friends have worked with them so now it feels like family. It’s been such a pleasure. I came with my idea and they were so supportive. They haven’t changed anything! It's really rare, I feel very lucky.

Is this your first time in Miami?

Yeah, and I haven’t seen anything (laughs). I’ve been working so much.

So, you haven’t been to the Art Basel Miami Beach fair?

No, I don’t know how I’m going to find the time, but I’m going to try tomorrow.

Here's a little slideshow and some highlights from us for you to see what you missed

@ Art Basel Miami Beach (1st — 6th December 2019):

I’ve noticed you have an obsession with hair, can you explain this?

I’ve always felt I’ve had a lot of strength and information and wisdom in hair. I once cut it to my shoulders and I felt I thought I lost my strength. I also have demons from my mum as a child, when I was like six or seven and totally obsessed with her, she used to have this long hair that I used to touch and feel calm. There’s a lot of theories that we save a lot of information in our hair or when you have a trauma you need to cut. You know when you’re having a really bad time and you always obsess over getting a hair cut or you want to shave it off? That’s something that’s supposed to happen when you have a traumatic experience. But, there’s a lot of theories that we get ideas and emotions from the finishings of hair – this is something that fascinates me. I would love to have my hair down to the floor.

What’s your relationship to makeup? In Novembre, we don’t retouch anything, except for this one below which is a specific retouching project and concept.

I use makeup sometimes, I don’t like to use it in my images much unless it’s a visual statement and we want to explore something. But, I’m not that into covering flaws. It’s beautiful to do your makeup if you want to feel more beautiful sometimes. But, I think it’s important in editorial work to go back a bit and show how one does look in real life…

I don’t hate it, I don’t love it.

When was the first you ever shot a naked body?

I used to shoot a lot of spaces when I first got my firstanalog camera. And as a Mediterranean girl, all of my summers have always been on the coast and that implies being naked on the rocks with my friends. Once I got my camera, I realised it was so beautiful and inspiring so I started taking portraits of my friends in that environment — it was something natural that just happened.

Do you take self-portraits?

Yeah, I do. I have a app that monitors how my face changes and I started doing that about three years ago. I used to take a lot more self-portraits, but since my work as a photographer became more professional, I stopped doing it as much. I would love to come back to it.

Is the sea inspiring to you?

It is such an important thing for me it’s like my main source of inspiration. As I said I’m from the Mediterranean, so for me being on the rocks gives me life. It’s where I feel I belong, it’s where I feel my best and I feel a really deep connection to that type of space.

Your work to me comes across really feminine and strong, almost feminist I guess, and I saw you’ve shot for Playboy, so how did it feel to shoot for the world’s ‘sexiest’ magazine and how did it happen?

http://carlotaguerrero.com/x-playboy

They called me, and the person on the phone was a woman, and the whole creative team were women. I know historically they’ve done a lot of harm to women.

But I think feminism is about having a real conversation with the ones who have done bad things.

But, it was a big controversy for me — I experienced my first backlash and haters, and it was a lot, but I don’t know, it was beautiful! We took to the streets of Barcelona and it was this whole group of women almost naked, dressed in red with heels. I was a bit scared in the beginning because those were my girls and they might be harassed, or hurt, have things called out at them, but it was beautiful — people were clapping and cheering us on, it was intense.

Beautiful. What is your favourite spot in Barcelona?

My house. It’s Downtown, in the old part of Barcelona. It’s like a 20 minute walk to the sea.

Who’s the most inspiring woman to you? And who would you love to shoot?

My sister, she’s the person I’ve learned the most from and she’s supported me the most. She’s the mirror I like to look at myself through. And, I would love to shoot Rosalia.

Where else do you find inspiration?

I think all the ideas are in the air, and when you connect to yourself and when you are balanced and open, you receive them. Inspiration is everywhere – you just need to open your eyes and focus.

Choreography and movement seem important in your work, so, how do you work with models? Or, with movement directors?

I’ve always moved a lot, I’m not a dancer or a choreographer but I act as if I am one most of the time. It’s very natural and organic in me. And yeah, these days I’m working with movement choreographer, and dancers and it’s been very natural — I do something and they imitate it. There’s no code established, it just comes.

What is your casting process?

I’ve been working with a casting director in this job, but I’ve been attending all the castings and talking directly to every person, having them do lots of games, and dancing with them to create a real bond because this was such an intense performance that I needed to see how they’d respond to everything I was asking. So, in this case, I’ve been very into it. I don’t really like working with standard models I think my vibe is to change the industry from the inside and I love doing street casting, casting my friends, working two, three, ten times with the same person because I know we have a good connection. I hate seeing a picture on the internet and having to decide if I want to shoot that person or not because I don’t know anything about them or their story; I need to make sense of why I’m shooting somebody.

What’s your favourite magazine?

My friend in Barcelona has this magazine, Perdiz it’s about weird things that make people happy. They tell stories about the weirdest, most savage things, like a woman who’s obsessed with finding tornados and travels the world looking for them. I just admire them for doing something so rare and unique.

Who was your hero as a kid?

Beyoncé.

What are your three top songs ever?

1. ‘La Leyenda del tiempo’ by Camarón de la Isla

2. ‘A ningún hombre’ by Rosalia

3. ‘Ficus’ by Oso Leone

An artist you’d like to collaborate with?

Björk.

What is your favourite piece of classical art?

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. It was also a reference for the Desigual performance.

What was your mood board for this work?

I had some references from Pina Bausch. Styling-wise, I’ve been working with Alicia Padron and her references were on point! The styling is one of my favourite parts of the show, we got really creative.

The best kiss in a movie?

The one from Jamón Jamón, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem kissing in the bar, it’s the hottest scene ever!

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a book, a photographic one with all my work.