Roxana Rios *1994 (they/them) currently based in Leipzig, Germany. In 2017 Roxana picked up a double study at HGB-Leipzig and AdBK-Nuremberg and studied in the classes of Heidi Specker and Juergen Teller. After graduating in 2020 Roxana joined Isabel Lewis‘ class of the performing Arts. They received their Diploma in July 2023. Roxana's work has been shown at Museum Folkwang Essen, Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig, FOTOHOF Salzburg and Fotomuseum Winterthur as part of Plat(t)form. Roxana was nominated for the Federal Prize for Art Students in 2020 and won the Contemporary German Photography Grant in 2024.
the body is a practice
2024
“the body is a practice,“ 2024
4x 3D reliefs, 74.4x55.7cm, 3x 38.4x28.7cm
“breach of realms,” 2025
12x fine art prints, 2x 80x120cm, 10x 40x60cm
“ALIAS,” 2025
6x fine art prints, 19x25cm, laminated on aluminum, mounted on NUT profiles in various designs
In three recent works, Roxana Rios continues their long-standing engagement with corporeality as a dynamic field of political and aesthetic negotiation. Starting from AI-generated representations of trans bodies, “The Body is a Practice” explores constructed expectations around the nature of bodies, viewing them not as biological facts but as practices—shaped by language, technology, and action.
The piece “Breach of Realms” expands this perspective to bodily postures in public space and their entanglement with the performance of patriarchal power structures. Drawing on the work of Marianne Wex, this piece proposes an intergenerational continuation that subverts traditional interpretations of gender, presence, and authority.
Finally, the collaboration “ALIAS” focuses on drag as a technique of staging and deconstruction. Through the explicit revealing, dismantling, and shifting of gender markers, the body becomes visible as a fluid, malleable construction—through resistance, appropriation, and constant reinvention. The body emerges as a surface of identity and emotion, a confrontation with transitional transformation.
