"When Manuela Solano delineates a cheekbone or shapes the chiseled torso of a cowboy standing tall, precisely placed nails, tape, and pipe cleaners offer guidance. The artist, who is blind, works intuitively, feeling out the areas she and her team have marked and trusting that together, the desired imagery will emerge. "I try to force myself to keep [the shapes] faster and looser, which feels great," she adds. "It makes the process more playful.""
"Snowy scenes and portraits appear throughout the sketchbook and offer a visual throughline to her work today. Recent paintings like "Walking on Water" retain the vast landscapes of her earlier pieces as ripples pulse across the sea's surface. "Me and my team are constantly figuring out the best way to paint textures or effects we haven't painted before. In that way, we are continually learning," she adds."
Manuela Solano lost her sight at 26 after medical malpractice during HIV treatment and adapted by developing tactile methods and collaborative processes. She uses nails, tape, and pipe cleaners as guides and relies on memory and imagination to compose paintings. Her sketchbooks include snowy scenes and portraits that persist as visual throughlines in recent work, and paintings like "Walking on Water" retain vast landscapes with rippling sea surfaces. A 2018 film by Barbara Anastacio documents studio practice prior to Solano's gender transition. A recent solo show in Madrid presented self-portraits exploring fluid gender identity and the imprint of nature on figures.
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