Juan Alberto Franco Ricardo (b. 1991, Bogotá) is a queer, nonbinary, Colombian artist, educator, strategist, and curator.

They ground artistic and curatorial practice in collaboration, dialogue, and inclusion. Whether working independently or with other artists and cultural workers, they create artist-centric, justice-driven works of art, exhibitions, and creative experiences.

Juan constructs lens-based works with the aid of film and digital cameras, flatbed scanners, and found imagery. Their artistic practice focuses on queer intimacies, relationships, and memories. Their curatorial practice investigates the politics of memory, the violence of forgetting, and the role of the artist as creators of non-traditional archives.

Juan teaches in-person and virtual courses in art and photography at Youth in Focus. Classes are designed to be culturally responsive and trauma-informed to create a safe and supportive environment for all students.

They have exhibited nationally and internationally at Cornish College of the Arts, The Factory in Seattle, the Rose Lipman Building in London, Tacoma Art Museum, The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, The Venice Biennale for #DieselReboot, among others.

Most recently, they curated the 2019 Neddy at Cornish Exhibition titled Inherent Visions at the Cornish Playhouse and Lugar del Trabajo at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. They are Co-Founder and Co-Director of festival:festival, a public arts festival in Seattle.

Juan holds an MA in Art History from the University of Washington, Seattle and a BFA in Art from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle.

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Juan Alberto Franco Ricardo

Curatorial and event-based projects

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