Cecilia Paredes is a Peruvian photographer and performance artist residing in Philadelphia. Her primary themes include the power of nature, femininity, and migration frequently utilizes natural elements, often recycled waste materials and primarily organic ones, in her installations. Naturally she is a friend and customer to The Resource Exchange and the same themes of sustainability have been incorporated into Paredes’ studio space. 

Paredes had read an interesting story about an artist who was using a separate desk for each one of their artistic practices and decided to incorporate the multiple desk practice into her own studio. We were lucky to have diverted several of these beautiful oak school desks away from landfill from the set of a major motion picture over the summer. 

Paredes purchased four of the desks for their practice– one is being used as a research space and the others are currently for large projects. Sustainable, versatile, and a fraction of the cost of buying new!

(The oak school desks being installed at Paredes’ studio)

The month of March is Women’s History Month– we invite you to learn more about Cecilia Paredes and her work inspired by  social and environmental concerns in this interview from Little Observationist.