Carmen José

Carmen José is an illustrator, educator and activist interested in questioning processes of visual representations. In her practice she aims to facilitate spaces for dialogue and coming together. In 2014 she co-founded Papiercafé, a multifunctional collective café for self-publishing. She joined the independent press, Rotopol, as co-publisher and author in 2016. A year later, she worked as part of the aneducation team of documenta14 in Kassel and Athens. In 2018, she moved to Rotterdam to execute experimental research around critical thinking in visual education, funded by CBK Rotterdam. In 2020, she co-initiated Growing Space, a social and cultural greenhouse place in the Wielewaal that began as a form of redistributing cultural funds to neighbours and artists during Covid-19 lockdown. Carmen is currently a teacher and researcher in illustration and social practice at Willem de Kooning Academy and belongs to the collective Feministas en Rotterdam.