On August 24, 1821, Spain and Mexico signed the Treaty of Córdoba, giving Mexico a large mass of land, including a significant part of what is now the western portion of United States of America. Between 1843 and 1853, the land was in the hands of the US.
Because of Spain’s long tenure in the west (1493-1821), its presence permeates much of the western United States, leaving an indelible mark, culturally and artistically.
You can’t help but notice the impact and influence of Spain upon the western mindset and culture. Nowhere is Spain’s influence felt more than in New Mexico. From the Land of Enchantment’s architecture, festivals, and cultural integration (such as Flamenco), Spain is alive and well in the New World.
But beyond historical connections, there are living associations. Case in point, the artist Thaïs Ferrandis Coy. Born in Valencia, Spain, Coy studied Fine Arts at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, focusing on Sculpture, Performance Art, and Art Therapy. Ferrandis Coy moved to the US to continue her pursuit of art.
As her website states, her “Artwork dances between the desert and the Mediterranean, blending Performance and Endurance Art with sculpture and the imaginative world of textile design—a nod to my mother's craft. My creations are captured through the lens of photography and video, often evolving into installations.”
I catch up with Ferrandis Coy to discuss her work Self Portrait.
In Self-Portrait one sees a panel of four photographs. The first is of Ferrandis Coy covered in a sheen cloth, with a red background. The second photograph is of Ferrandis Coy facing left, looking out to the horizon, standing in front of a brown background. The third photo is of Ferrandis Coy with a black blouse, standing in front of the brown background, but facing right with the sheen cloth acting as a barrier between the viewer and herself. The final photograph is of an ear surrounded by the sheen cloth, with no noticeable detection of Ferrandis Coy.
Self Portrait photo | Provided
Tell us about this work. What inspired you to create an engaging photo montage?
Inspiration, for me, is such a sneaky thing. Maybe it’s that way for other artists too. It doesn’t always announce itself with clarity. When people ask what inspired a particular piece, I often feel like I’m floating outside of myself. Sometimes, an image just appears in my mind and insists on being made. I don’t always fully understand it in the moment, but once it’s out, I start to see what it’s trying to say.
This photo montage came from an urgent need to reclaim a sense of identity. I had this recurring image of a being that refuses to be pinned down or defined. Someone who’s present but distanced, seen through a veil. There’s this resistance to direct engagement; the subject looks away, avoids the viewer’s gaze, but is still undeniably there.
Self Portrait photo | Provided
Give us an idea of Self Portraits’ innate meaning. Why an ear at the end?
I always love when viewers bring their own stories and desires into my work, but I’ll tell you what it means to me.
Self Portraits is really about identity in tension; how it feels to be seen, to hide, to reveal only parts of yourself. It’s not a linear story but more of an emotional map: fragmented, layered, shifting. Each image is a moment in that negotiation, between visibility and distance, softness and strength, presence and refusal.
A lot of my work exists in that in-between space, always dancing between extremes. Maybe it’s because I feel like I live between two very different worlds, the desert and the Mediterranean. Two landscapes that couldn’t be more opposite, yet somehow, I’m both. Or neither. Or just the thing in the middle, you know?
The ear! Around that time, I was also working on a separate piece (still in progress) that’s a full wall of ears. I became obsessed with their symbolism and knew I had to include one here.
To me, the ear represents listening, vulnerability, and hyper-awareness, but also the strange politics of perception. Who gets to speak, and who’s expected to listen, to absorb. There’s a quiet but powerful tension in that. Again, tension is at the heart of this work!
Ending the series with an ear flips the idea of what a self-portrait can be. It moves the focus away from being seen and toward the act of receiving. It’s more internal, more reflective. An invitation, maybe, to rethink what it really means to be present, to be perceived.
Self Portrait photo | Provided
Talk a little about your artistic process. What goes into a work such as Self Portrait?
My process is very intuitive, almost like channeling. Sometimes an image just comes to me, fully formed or in fragments, and I must follow it. I don’t always know why in the moment, but I trust it. I let it lead, and later, I figure out what it was trying to tell me.
For Self Portraits, it started with a need to process something internal that I wasn’t able to shape into words. I began experimenting with fabric, light, posture… and letting the camera capture what felt honest, even if it was strange or uncomfortable. I work a lot with materials that feel symbolic to me, like the traditional Spanish traje, or the sheer fabric that conceals while still revealing.
There’s also a physical aspect to the work. I shoot alone often, so there’s a performative ritual involved. Setting up, testing, adjusting, moving in and out of frame. I become both the subject and the maker, constantly shifting between those roles.
And then there’s the editing, not in the technical sense, but in deciding what stays, what resonates, and what helps hold the emotional weight of the piece. Every image needs to earn its place. With Self Portraits, it was about creating a progression that explored different states of self.
In short, so much of my process is about feeling rather than thinking, and then later, sitting with what I’ve made and understanding where it came from.
To learn more about Thaïs Ferrandis Coy’s work, go to: https://www.thaiscoy.com/about.
Brian C. Nixon, Ph.D., is Chief Academic Officer and professor at Veritas International University in Albuquerque. As a writer, musician, and artist, his interests surround the philosophical transcendentals: truth, beauty, and goodness. You can contact Brian via his Bandcamp email address: https://briancharlesnixon.bandcamp.com
