Sofia Argüello

Your background combines music, anthropology, and photography. How do these disciplines influence your current visual work?

In my creative work, each part of my background acts like a lens that allows me to see an idea, a place, or something that inspires me in a unique way. Music was one of my first gateways to creative and artistic expression. Since I was a child, it has allowed me to inhabit collective spaces, amplify what I had to offer in a group setting, and share knowledge through enjoyment. Today, it’s still present in my daily life—in the sounds and styles I choose to accompany my breakfast or to work on a particular project. Anthropology’s presence is less graphic but more encompassing. In my final years of study, I realized that one of the greatest lessons from this discipline, among many things, was observation—and the vigilance that comes with it. Without even noticing, I acquired a new pair of lenses to observe and inhabit different worlds. This influences every idea, my choice of format, the message, and how I bring it to life—but undoubtedly, it also shapes my way of living. Photography was a major discovery and the engine that opened the doors to creativity for me once again. After years of intellectual work and study, photography gave me back the process of creating and an invitation to curiosity, which now guides my visual work.

What first drew you to photographing daily life in Turin?

Moving to a new city always invites me to look with eyes full of surprise and curiosity. I have been living outside Argentina, my home country, for three years now, and when I arrived in Turin, I began to understand that photographing my daily life in the city was my way of telling myself: You’re here now. After a few months, while looking through my files, I began to find traces of a daily life in Turin that transforms with the changing seasons and with my growing familiarity with the space. Without a doubt, these photos show an everyday life—among many others that I inhabit.

Sofia Argüello | Barrio | 2025

Several of your images capture light and shadows in striking ways. What role does natural light play in your creative process?

I’d say natural light is at the core of my work. At this point in my career, my exploration with natural light encompasses both photography and working with cyanotype, a printmaking technique that uses UV light. I also find a connection between time and natural light that deeply inspires me. Being able to work with the passage of time, translated through the variables expressed by light, is one of the aspects that attracts and challenges me in my daily practice. On a personal level, I also love to travel and discover new places, to get closer to everyday life and the details that make each place unique. So, I believe light reflects the details that shape a place, and therefore, the photos I take are traces of my passage through that place at a given moment.

Many of your photographs evoke a sense of stillness and intimacy. Is that something you intentionally seek?

The intention to look closely and linger on details is part of my creative process, which I try to translate into the work itself. Intimacy is an invitation for the viewer to come closer and notice the details; it’s about sharing the sensations of the process at a later stage, without losing its uniqueness. 

On the other hand, photography has brought me closer to the practice of pausing, of ensuring that everyday occurrences don’t go unnoticed, and of keeping my gaze attentive and curious. Sometimes, this simply means stopping and observing.

Sofia Argüello | Amor | 2025

What stories or emotions are you hoping to communicate through this project?

This project stems from an everyday record that seeks to appreciate daily happenings with presence and to convey the diversity of scenes we witness each day. It proposes a dialogue between intimate life and its exchange with the outside world, where natural light is the guide or focal point—a language expressed through shadows and brightness. Turin is a city I’ve known for a short time, and my daily life here keeps changing and taking new forms as time goes by. This project is a first version of that daily life, and the idea of giving it a title in the form of a question is my way of not taking anything around us for granted and of invoking the ephemeral and unpredictable nature of life.

How do you choose the subjects or locations for your photos?

This project emerged from an archival process in which the photos were taken in my home, my neighborhood, and during my early walks around the city. So, while there wasn’t a deliberate decision before capturing the images, when building this narrative I made a selection that seeks to weave connections between intimate spaces and spaces of social interaction and encounter. For example, starting from my dining table and the shadow over my neighbor’s backyard, then moving to my favorite street corner in the neighborhood and the reflection of a café in the heart of the city. In this way, I try to evoke spaces that were meaningful in my early everyday life, within a specific time and place—my home, its surroundings, and the first parts of the city I discovered.

Sofia Argüello | Encuentro | 2025

Has your perspective on Turin changed since you began photographing it?

The practice of photographing the place I live in invites me to observe, to nurture curiosity about everything new, to make sense of what feels overwhelming at first, and to record an ephemeral present. Without a doubt, photographing my daily life in Turin has allowed me to perceive it differently and to observe how the passage of time shapes my gaze within the same city.