Asunción Molinos Gordo (b. 1979, Aranda de Duero, Burgos, Spain) is a researcher and visual artist.

Her practice is strongly influenced by disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies. She questions the categories that define “innovation” in mainstream discourses today, working to generate a less urban-centric way of understanding progress.

The main focus of her work is contemporary peasantry. She understands the figure of the small or medium farmer not merely as food producer, but as cultural agent responsible for both perpetuating traditional knowledge and generating new expertise. She employs installation, photography, video, sound, and other media to examine the rural realm, driven by a strong desire to know the value and complexity of its cultural production, as well as the burdens that keep it invisible and marginalized.

Her works have  reflected on land usage, nomad architecture, farmers’ strikes, bureaucracy concerning territory, transformation of rural labor, biotechnology, and global food trade.

Molinos Gordo won the Sharjah Biennial Prize 2015 with her project WAM (World Agriculture Museum) and represented Spain at the XIII Havana Biennial in 2019. In 2020, she was commissioned to create Art Jameel’s Artist Garden, in Dubai, where she presented the project In Transit: Botany of Journey.

Her work has been exhibited at venues including Victoria & Albert Museum and Delfina Foundation, London; ARNOLFINI, Bristol; The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo; Darat Al Funun, Amman; Tranzit, Prague; ART BASEL Miami Beach; Cappadox Festival, Uchisar; The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki;, Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara MUSAC, León; CA2M, Madrid; CAB, Burgos; Matadero and  and La Casa Encendida, Madrid;, among others.

She obtained her BFA from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she also pursued her Master in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice. She is currently studying Anthropology and Ethnography at UNED, Madrid. Molinos Gordo lives between Spain and Egypt.

Image credits: Osama Dawod