Alina Balseiro uses photography and sculpture to empower their collaborators in the LGBTQIA+ community. As they explore the social codes and cues within this group, they depict the common experiences of Queer individuals. Alina interweaves concepts of vulnerability, identity affirmation, balance and care within relationships, and found communities in their work. Alina’s delicacy when collaborating with friends and strangers shows their ability to create spaces that welcome authenticity of LGBTQIA+ experiences.
Often maneuvering between varying perspectives of viewers, Alina balances the shifting weight of representation, education, and normalization. Their photographs depict the ways that the LGBTQIA+ community wants to be seen leave a multidimensional impression on those that access their work. As they continue making, they build deeper connections on a larger scale with queer individuals seeking to share their narratives.
Alina is committed to generating ethical making processes and maintaining the comfort of their collaborators.
Alina is committed to generating ethical making processes and maintaining the comfort of their collaborators.
As a recent BFA Photography and Design graduate from Lesley University, Alina was awarded the Lesley Art and Design’s 2020 Photography Award and the 2022 EDIJ Rising Artist Award. They earned Somerville Arts Council’s Integrated Media Fellowship and Mass Cultural Council’s Grant for Creative Individuals, and participated as a fellow in Lesley University’s MFA Low Residency Program. They have exhibited work in the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston University, Cambridge Art Association, Gallery 263, Gallery South, Goethe Institit-Boston, Gravedigger’s Daughter Gallery, Panopticon Gallery, and Roberts Gallery. They are currently the Director’s Assistant at Gallery Kayafas, have taught at Lesley University, Community Art Center, and Institute of Contemporary Art - Boston, and helped pilot an Early College Program at Lesley University for first-generation high school students.