My name is Fernando Torralba and I am a junior at the College of the Holy Cross located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Growing up in New York City, I was always surrounded by art that ranged from street performances to world-famous museums . This would be impactful for cultivating an artistic interest in me because my educational environment was never particularly conducive to understanding and creating art. At the College of the Holy Cross, the diverse options of a liberal arts education has allowed me to pursue a range of academic interests while allowing me to actually explore art in an academic setting. I have always leaned more towards pencil drawings as it was the most readily available “equipment” but during my first semester a professor told the class that the art building had an equipment library to borrow whatever they had and I got my hands on a camera for the first time.

Currently I have been exploring what it is to see from behind the camera lens using both digital and film cameras. The most recent photographic class I took focused on manipulating and creating images in the darkroom to create abstract works. What has really stood out to me in my photographic education is the importance of the process and how doing the ‘wrong’ thing can sometimes be just what is needed to make the art come to life.

The Siena Art Institute is a place where I hope to grow as an artist by surrounding myself with like-minded peers as well as take advantage of the educational opportunities that cannot be found anywhere else. There is also the city itself to explore during my time here and as I push my photographic pursuit to the next level it will surely serve as the springboard for my development.

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A selection of previous work: