ISABEL MIQUEL ARQUES

I am a storyteller, a visual artist working with photography, text, and screen printing.
Born in Lleida, Spain, I grew up surrounded by music and images. My mother was a concert pianist, and my father, a businessman and amateur photographer, gave me my first camera at the age of ten, a Kodak Instamatic 25 that still sits on my desk today.
After living and working in Barcelona, London, and Amsterdam, I settled in Antwerp in 2005.
My artistic practice is deeply rooted in the materiality of photography. Moving between tradition and modernity, I explore the strength that lies within fragility, beauty, and poetry. Texture, transparency, and tactility are central to my work, where imperfections and traces are essential visible, tangible, and embraced.
Current Project
I am currently developing the third book and exhibition of my Beyond Borders trilogy -a series of visual dialogues with three iconic female figures who have shaped my artistic universe: Karen Blixen, Virginia Woolf, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
This third dialogue focuses on Georgia O’Keeffe. I recently traveled to New Mexico, invited by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum- Historical Properties, to research and experience O’Keeffe’s life and work in situ.
The first two dialogues -with Karen Blixen and Virginia Woolf- were published by Ludion in 2022 and 2023, each accompanied by an exhibition at Geukens & De Vil Gallery.
The book launch and exhibition for the third volume are scheduled for 2026, presented by Geukens & De Vil Projects at Fabriek Noord (Verbeke Foundation-Antwerp).
Honorable Mention Hariban Award 2022
Series The Spain of my Father
Solo Exhibitions
2009/ Gallery Van De Weghe (Antwerp) Portrait with shrimp croquet. Based on her book with the same title published by Ludion.
2010/ Portrait with shrimp croquet, Soledad Senlle Gallery - Amsterdam.
2012/ Agitation Ingrid Deuss Gallery - Antwerp
2015/ Here be lions Ingrid Deuss Gallery - Antwerp
2015/ Invited artist with her audiovisual project Music box to KADS (Kunst aan de Schinkel- Art along the Schinkel) in Amsterdam. Art in public spaces.
2016/ Artwork To See for the TAG Foundation - Antwerp.
2018/ Après l’Averse/After the Downpour Ingrid Deuss Gallery - Antwerp
2021/ Ingrid Deuss Gallery curated by Roxane Baeyens - Studies on movement and Imperfections
2022/ Geukens & De Vil Gallery (Antwerp) of the first artistic dialogue of the trilogy Beyond Borders, Beyond Borders- Isabel Miquel Arqués in dialogue with Karen Blixen
2023/ De Memòria (From Memory) IEI- Sala Gòtica (Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs)
2023/ Geukens & De Vil Gallery (Antwerp) of the second artistic dialogue of the trilogy Beyond Borders, Beyond Borders- Isabel Miquel Arqués in dialogue with Virginia Woolf (published by Ludion)
2026/ Geukens & De Vil Projects(Antwerp) -at Fabriek Noord/Verbeke Foundation-of the third artistic dialogue of the trilogy Beyond Borders, Beyond Borders- Isabel Miquel Arques in dialogue with Georgia O'Keeffe(published by Ludion)
Group Exhibition
2021/ Unseen(Amsterdam) Ingrid Deuss Gallery
2022/ Unseen Art Fair - September Amsterdam
2022/ Group exhibition curated by Els Wuyts in Villa Les Zephyrs exhibiting Les oreilles de la Mer
2023/ April-Finissage Les oreilles de la Mer
2023/ March 24 - Deuss Gallery
2023/ 10 march-14 may De Memoria IEI (Estudios Ilerdenses) Lleida -Spain
2024/ The Long Goodbye- Geukens & De Vil Gallery
Projects and Artist in Residence
2019/ Artist in residency at the Center of Contemporary Art Ifitry, in Essaouira (Morocco)
2019/ Invited artist to develop a personal artistic project at Karen Blixen Museum - Copenhagen
2025/Georgia O'Keeffe Museum-Historical Properties (Santa Fe-New Mexico/USA)
Book Publications
Portrait with shrimp croquet (Ludion)
Here be Lions (Ingrid Deuss Gallery)
An Ear or a Shell or an Ear( from the exhibition Les Oreilles de la Mer)
Beyond Borders trilogy (published by Ludion): Beyond Borders- Isabel Miquel Arqués in dialogue with Karen Blixen, Beyond Borders-Isabel Miquel Arqués in dialogue with Virginia Woolf, Beyond Borders- Isabel Miquel Arqués in dialogue with Georgia O'Keeffe"
Travel Journal - Following Georgia O'Keeffe footsteps across New York-New Mexico: Ghost Ranch & Abiquiú
