In this conversation, Camila Fálquez and Willow Defebaugh bring together artistic practice, editorial vision, and activist urgency around Compañerx, Falquez’s multidisciplinary project that foregrounds the lives, struggles, and dreams of trans and non-binary people in Colombia. Developed in tandem with grassroots organizing and the drafting of Colombia’s first comprehensive bill for trans rights, Compañerx pairs a series of intimate portraits with stories, testimony, and context that make visible the human realities at stake in legislative transformation.
Presented in dialogue with Fálquez’s exhibition slideshow, the discussion will explore how photography can move beyond visibility into solidarity and political imagination, how editorial collaboration with a platform like Atmos shapes the project’s narrative reach, and how images and words together can participate in cultural and legal change. Defebaugh’s editorial perspective will illuminate how storytelling, community politics, and creative strategy intersect in contexts of rights, identity, and collective action.
Camila Fálquez is a New York-based photographer of Colombian heritage, born in Mexico City and raised in Spain. Her work merges the traditions of fashion and portrait photography with a keen focus on contemporary social and gender diversity. By channeling surrealist conventions and employing a bold color palette, Falquez elevates and empowers her subjects, reimagining their presence through a unique visual language.
In 2022, Fálquez held her first solo exhibition in New York at Hannah Traore Gallery, titled Gods That Walk Among Us. In 2023, she was honored as the Fashion Photographer of the Year at the Latin American Fashion Awards and that same year Falquez was awarded the TD Bank and NADA Curated Spotlight award. In 2024, she was invited to be a part of The University of Tulsa convening Sovereign Futures with her performance piece with artist Luis Rincon Alba, Chant Down.
Fálquez’s photographs are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Dean Collection; The Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey; and The Perez Art Museum in Miami, Florida; The Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection, among others.
Fálquez’s photography explores the intersection of fabric, identity, and historical narrative. Her art reinterprets the traditional use of draped fabric in Western painting, transforming it into a contemporary symbol that challenges and redefines concepts of power and beauty. Projects such as Compañera (2023-2024), a multi-media photography installation and performance advocating for trans and non-binary rights in Colombia; Being (2018-2023), a visual manifesto that reclaims and redefines monumental ideals; all reflect her commitment to amplifying marginalized voices and celebrating diverse experiences.
Willow Defebaugh is the cofounder and editor-in-chief of Atmos, an award-winning climate and culture magazine that seeks to re-enchant people with our shared humanity and the Earth. She is the author of The Overview, a deep ecology newsletter and book, and host of The Nature Of podcast. She is a lifelong student of nature and graduated with a degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, V Magazine, Interview, i-D, BBC, The Guardian, Them, New York Magazine, and more.
