Diana Coca’s journey (Palma, 1977) began as far back as she can remember when, as a child, her father would read her Homer’s *Odyssey* before bed. Since then, if there is anything that defines the life and work of this artist, it is her tireless quest to understand the human mind and behavior.

After earning a degree in Fine Arts with a specialization in Photography from the University of Brighton, a degree in Philosophy from the University of the Balearic Islands, and a Master’s in Dance and Performance Research from the National Center for Fine Arts in Mexico, she completed her training in performance at the Movement Research and International Center of Photography in New York.

Diana Coca finds in her own body the material that provides her with the independence necessary for exploration and analysis; in action, the means to create an objective reality; and in photography, the way to capture energy that is not visible to the naked eye.

Considering, as Sartre said, that actions are the only things that can be truly considered real in this life, Diana sets in motion the mechanism for creating the different realities she perceives. And she flies. She flies using her body as the agent of this action. She uses her body as a catalyst for energies, and improvisation as the vehicle for the trance that every act of creation entails. Diana sees herself as strong as a rock, and as soft as a sponge. She absorbs and channels concepts and energies to expel conclusions and truths that are evident to all but which our brains tend not to see. Following Donna Haraway,
Diana Coca questions the centrality of the eye in patriarchal Western culture, intervening in public space as yet another artistic space, affecting it and allowing herself to be affected, becoming intoxicated through the senses: listening, smelling, tasting, touching, and seeing. Like a visionary shaman, she opens our eyes to the world that is not shown to us under normal conditions of social blindness.

Given that action intrinsically involves time and space, photography is the perfect tool through which the artist captures what is in transit. She captures moments that present themselves as flashes of lucidity. Diana Coca’s photographs are once again proof that, as Carolee Schneemann said, if light is energy and photography captures light, photography captures the energy of actions, delving into sensations, emotions, and their meaning, with all that this entails.

Diana Coca holds a PhD in Humanities from Pompeu Fabra University. Among her solo exhibitions are I Fly, Therefore I Am (2021) at Casal Solleric curated by Mercedes Estarellas, Where is Diana?; Photo España (2017) at Tabacalera Promoción del Arte, Madrid, Made in China Self as Subject Object at the SKL gallery in Palma. Notable group exhibitions in which she has participated include On rau la realitat? at Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma; Shaped in Mexico: Coexisting through the Feathered Serpent; Spazio About, the Venice Biennale; Dialogue 对话, Meridian Space in Beijing, among others.

She has undertaken long-term artist residencies at the Academy of Spain in Rome, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing, TJINCHINA Project Space in Tijuana, Centro de las Artes San Agustín Etla in Oaxaca, Aula de Danza Estrella Casero at the University of Alcalá de Henares, and La Casa Encendida in Madrid, ADDAYA gallery in Mallorca, Fabra i Coats and MACBA in Barcelona.

Her work is part of collections such as the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, the Directorate-General for Fine Arts, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Tijuana Cultural Center (CICUT), among others.