About
Sofia Valiente is an award-winning artist and a visual anthropologist. Her work explores the complex histories involving Everglades’ drainage and South Florida’s development at large. Specifically, her work examines counter-histories—critically interrogating the constructions of narratives, authority, agency, and truth-making. Sofia’s books: Miracle Village (2014); Foreverglades (2019); and debut film Ivy Ridge (2024) have received awards from World Press Photo, Knight Foundation, Cannes Indie Shorts, and the State of Florida, Department of Cultural Affairs. Sofia’s work has been published in numerous media outlets including: Time, the Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, and American Photo Magazine. Her projects have been exhibited internationally in various museums and photography festivals around the world. Sofia is a full-time Lecturer of Photography in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Miami.
For inquires, please email valiente.sofia@gmail.com
Awards
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July 2026, Berkeley, CA
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Ivy Ridge, Cosford Cinema
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Inaugural Open Call, recipient for Kahayatle Interactive Web-based Documentary Headlands
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Social Practice Residency Finalist, Marin Headlands/Bay Area, CA
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Saratoga Springs, NY, admission for the 25-26 season
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Key West, FL June 2026
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Locust Projects/Andy Warhol Foundation for Kahayatle
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Foundation for Contemporary Arts/Andy Warhol Foundation for Kahayatle at the Miccosukee Indian Village Museum
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70th Flaherty Film Seminar: Onward! in New York City
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New Waves Grand Prix Winner for Ivy Ridge
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University of California, Riverside for fieldwork and sound design for Ivy Ridge
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Max H Gluck Foundation, community art outreach, three consecutive years
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Winner
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Visual and Media Artist Fellowship
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New York Times
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Storytelling Fellowship, nomination
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Foundation for Contemporary Arts, NYC
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$25,000 award from Florida Department of State-Division of Cultural Affairs
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$75,000 award from the Knight Foundation for Foreverglades
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Office of Community Revitalization of Palm Beach County, funding for printing Rooted in the Muck
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Finalist, Inge Morath and Magnum Foundation
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Visual and Media Artist Fellowship
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Winner, Burn Magazine
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1st Prize Portraiture Story for Miracle Village
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Emerging Photographer Competition, USA Winner
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Photo workshop scholarship at Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown
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Benetton's Communication Research Center, one-year residency in Treviso, Italy
Exhibitions
2025
Kahayatle at the Miccosukee Indian Village Museum Miami, FL (permanent installation)
2025
Off-Reservation, Sofia Valiente and the Photo Students at Sherman Indian High School at the Culver Center for the Arts/California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA
2025–2024
Women Photographers, Shared Documentary Narratives at HistoryMiami Museum
2024
Ivy Ridge film installation and photography exhibition at the Culver Center for the Arts/California Museum of Photography
2023
Leaning on Luck at Book & Job Gallery in San Francisco
2023
Inland Empire at The Fulcrum in Chinatown, Los Angeles
2021
Foreverglades (photo series) at Paris Photo in Paris, Daniel Blau Gallery Booth
2021
Foreverglades permanent installation at the Lawrence E. Will Museum, Belle Glade, FL. Public Art donated to the City of Belle Glade by the artist.
2021
New Art: 2021 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship Visual and Media Artists Exhibition at the Schmidt and Ritter Art Galleries, Boca Raton, FL
2020
Foreverglades (steamboat installation) at Paris Photo New York, Pier 94, Manhattan (Canceled due to COVID Lockdown)
2020–2019
Foreverglades exhibition and public art installation at the Stub Canal Turning Basin in West Palm Beach, FL
2019
Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South traveling exhibition, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston
2018
Federal Project No. 2 at Photoville Festival at the Bridge in Brooklyn Bridge Park
2017
Miracle Village at Fotodocs Documentary Photography Festival in Munich, Germany
2016
VICE Magazine’s 15th Annual Photo Show featuring images from Foreverglades
2015
Sofia Valiente/Miracle Village at Galerie Meyer, Paris (Photo St- Germain during Paris Photo)
2015
La Fabrica del Presente/Miracle Village at Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome
2015
Fabrica: Sofia Valiente. "Miracle Village" at Fotofestiwal 2015 Lodz, Poland
2015
World Press Photo 2015 Photo Contest traveling exhibit, De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
2015
Miracle Village at AIPAD NYC fair at Daniel Blau Gallery, London/Germany booth
2015
New Art: 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Exhibition, FAU Schmidt Center Gallery, Boca Raton
2015
Alternative Contemporaneity: TAZ (group exhibition) at Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
2015
Jin Jing City and Miracle Village at Daniel Blau Gallery, London
2014
5 UNDER 30 at Daniel Blau Gallery, London
Lectures/workshops
2025
In Conversation: Sofia Valiente and Photo Students of Sherman Indian High School Artist Talk at the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, CA
2023
My California Story Workshop with Sofia Valiente at the Culver Center of the Arts in Riverside, CA
2021
Florida Woman X Documentary. Photo Talk w/ Pete Brook and Sofia Valiente, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center/TILT
2020
Artist Tour with Sofia Valiente during Art After Dark at the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach
2017
A Heaven for the Untouchables: a conversation with photographer Sofia Valiente, director Lasse Barforks and curator of Kunstverein München Post Brothers (Matthew Alexander Post) at Lotringer13 during Fotodocs Festival in Munich
2024
Women Photographers, Shared Documentary Narratives Panel Discussion at History Miami Museum during the Women Photographers International Archive Congress conference
2022
Stacy Kranitz in conversation with Sofia Valiente, Art in the Park, Los Angeles
2021
Between Us: Sofia Valiente and Mike Belleme with Six Feet Photography Project
2020
Storytelling Workshop and Open Studio with Sofia Valiente at the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach
2015
Miracle Village/World Press Photo Award Days Presentation at De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam
2024
Mining Memory and Resistance: Towards New Documentary Forms panel with curator Nora Khan and Ivy Ridge collaborators at the Culver Center for the Arts
2022
Foreverglades lecture at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Festival at the Biscayne Bay Nature Center in Miami
2020
Virtual Lecture with Sofia Valiente at OjoRojo Fabrica Visual in Bogota, Colombia
2019
The Photographer and Uncommon Access Panel at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston