Francisco Claure Ibarra

Francisco Claure Ibarra is a Bolivian artist and craftsman based in Vienna. His practice

encompasses analogue photography and handcrafted processes rooted in deep material

experimentation. Through woodworking, he discovered a profound affinity for manual labor—

an experience that would later shape the tactile and material sensitivity central to his artistic

practice.

At the age of 23, Claure Ibarra arrived in Vienna, where he began developing his

photographic work. His photography seeks to capture landscapes and their inhabitants in a

state of origin and natural dignity, free from artificial staging. Influenced by both classical and

experimental photography, and mentored in darkroom techniques by photographer Craig

Thiesen, he revived nearly forgotten processes such as gum bichromate printing and

platinum–palladium techniques.

Drawing inspiration from historical photographic methods, Claure Ibarra developed a unique

and innovative approach he defines as “handmade photography.” Using a medium-format

analogue camera, he exposes images directly onto paper he produces himself from cotton

pulp, lokta fibre—a plant native to Nepal—and gelatine. The resulting black-and-white

photographs are hand-coloured and enhanced with gold leaf, whose natural ageing process

allows the works to evolve over time.

His works often blur the boundaries between photography, painting, and object, creating

images that appear suspended between centuries. Simplicity, texture, and material presence

are central to his visual language.

Claure Ibarra’s photographs form a gallery of expressions—portraits of people, animals,

objects, and landscapes—that reveal affirmative aspects of life and cultural memory. Bolivia

remains a central source of inspiration, reflected in his ongoing exploration of the human

relationship to land, tradition, and identity. His work has been exhibited widely, including at

the National Museum of Art in La Paz, Bolivia; The GRID in Amsterdam; and in more than

thirty exhibitions across Europe and beyond. After more than twenty-five years of

photographic practice, he published a book featuring over one hundred images created

using his handcrafted technique.

More recently, Francisco has begun merging previously distinct processes into a new hybrid

art form. By combining hand-coloured photography on canvas with glass beads and gold

leaf, he creates works that unite image, object, and ornament into a single visual language.

Symbolism plays a central role in his practice. Drawing from cultures and belief systems

around the world, including ancient spiritual traditions, his work incorporates adinkras from

Africa as well as tocapus—pre-Columbian graphic symbols believed to function as a form of

sacred or divine writing.

Francisco Claure Ibarra has exhibited extensively across numerous countries and has

gained international recognition for his distinctive fusion of photography, sculpture, and

symbolic art.

Contact:

Email: fclaureibarra@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franciscoclaureibarra/