"PT's Foto Fun"

12/03/2025

Hey friends,

I'm back, in an art Gallery this time. Go and check out my new adventure at Morrinsville Gallery .
Please share your thoughts :)

07/03/2025

We are delighted to extend an invitation to you for the opening of an extraordinary exhibition at the Morrinsville Gallery. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience captivating art that promises to inspire and engage.

🎨🖌Community Gallery
23, 24, 25…Life U-Turns…Fate?
My 360-degree journey as a conversation starter
By Pepa Torre
4-28 March 2025

Opening Date: Sunday, 9 March 2025
Time: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Admission is free, and your generous contributions are appreciated.

Join Pepa for an intimate conversation as she reflects on her unique 360 ° life journey from Spain to New Zealand through 25 years of exploring through time and generations.

This exhibition has been passionately curated by Pepa Torre with the help of Morrinsville Gallery curator Elizabeth Borrows and supported by the MPDC Creative Scheme.

Director’s Statement
Photographer. Dancer. Singer. Connector. Immigrant. Radio Host. Spanish-kiwi. People lover. Story-teller. Flamenco enthusiast… and much more. Meet the talented artist Pepa Torre and get ready to be provoked by her multimedia installation, 23, 24, 25…Life U-Turns…Fate? Dive into the immersive photo cube, for the first time ever.

You are invited to join Pepa for an intimate conversation as she reflects on her unique 360-degree life journey from Spain to New Zealand, through 25 years of exploring through time and generations. Pepa explains “I believe in our individual multi-uniqueness which interconnects with each other’s personal multi-uniqueness’s. In this project, I dare to demonstrate that digging into our many definitions of self, we will always find something in common with any other person in the room. I believe that deep inside it all, our main human seeds are very similar to each other’s”.
The artist’s immersive cube explores identity, culture, social and personal transformation, and questions what really matters, step inside a multi-media 3D collage, one of her favourite story-telling techniques.

In 23, 24, 25…Life U-Turns...Fate? Pepa examines themes central to our multicultural community, going an extra step by questioning the public about their own lives and thoughts. She invites all visitors to connect and share their views and thoughts, considering the challenges – in the artists own words – “of being from here and from there and still not from here nor from there”.

Artist Statement
A Spanish born artist, my grandparents lived a civil war (each of them belonging to different political parties). Cadiz, my town, was house to the first liberal constitution signed. They named that important document “La Pepa”.
From a family of medical professionals and lawyers, my artistic side was often attempted to be put aside but was too strong to be dismissed and I grew up learning to not apologise for choosing creativity as my way to be.
Recipient of a national photography award and other titles (master’s in photography), I became a professional photographer, afraid of being ripped-off my story-telling essence.
My interests in people, human rights and finding the whys of the world have been my biggest drivers. I use art to investigate and share my ideas with understanding humans a continuous theme. Understanding my own self first, is the most direct route; an eternal conflict of love-hate for tradition; how I negotiate mixed-race’s dilemmas and raise children that correct me in the language I taught them.

Immigrants’ lives are full of challenges, but I believe in the positive power of diversity, and so I find any opportunity to celebrate it.
There is an idea that has taken over all others: “what is the same and different at the same time”. Humans, countries, the sky, bodies, hair, cheese… there is a core that gets covered by different shapes yet in the end, the essence never changes. That is who we are, over space, skin colour and generations. The hearts of all people are pure and simple before they may get contaminated. What we do with it takes us to places A or B. The beauty is that wherever we are we can always do a U-turn.

About the Morrinsville Gallery
The Morrinsville Art Gallery Charitable Trust proudly celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2025 as the heart of community art in the Matamata-Piako District. We are passionate about creating a welcoming and vibrant space for both locals and visitors in Morrinsville and throughout the beautiful Waikato region.
As a non-profit organization, we rely entirely on community support. Our efforts would not be possible without the help of the artists, donors, volunteers, and people like you. Thank you for being an integral part of our family and our story.
By supporting local and national artists through our diverse program of exhibitions and events, we aim to inspire and engage our community. Join us in this art journey and explore exciting collaboration possibilities.

24/01/2025

Dear amigos, estoy muy excited de anunciar my new upcoming expisicion.This is a proyecto that engloba 2 worlds, 2 vidas, 2 generations, 2 lenguajes. Este project began 25 años ago. Put la fecha en tu calendar. I will ♥️ to see you alli ?

28/07/2023

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pepa-torre-6419596_a-couple-of-months-ago-during-one-of-my-activity-7090539402854084608-2kga?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

A couple of months ago, during one of my regular late nights, I found myself watching a documentary/interview about the late life of Sinead O´Connor. It was…

13/07/2023

11/06/2023

One more year, it is my pleasure to photograph the Waikato Refugee Day event.
I feel at home with the Hamilton communities to the point that I do not see races, colors, or shapes, I see people. All of us have something unique that makes us special and this event is always packed with very special individuals and groups of them.
To me, this is the goal, to stop seeing the big external differences and start noticing the internal similarities. By attending this celebration I feel closer to achieving it.

Thanks to everyone involved ♥

21/04/2023

I talk to a lot of people, different people. The one thing I sure have is a big, diverse network around me. The thing is: we all have a story full of factors and none of the stories are ever perfect (only the ones on social media). There are rich people whose health is not great, there are succesful people whose family does not appreciate who they are, there are creative people who love what they do but struggle in the money front (too many of these), there are young and good looking people who wish they could be more creative; those who don'tneed to work, free as a bird but days feel long and lack on purpose.... all very topical, I know, but so true. In the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how you manage your own factors, how you accept and combine the what, the how, the where to and the why. And even that is not an answer. You are great today but tomorrow, the challenges will be updated. Life is not easy, my friends.

11/04/2023

Yes, I know, not everyone can be the winner and employers have their reasons and their rights, true. I did have a good feeling after my phone screening about this one. The message is very friendly, very positive, but still a frustrating "not good enough". The thing is: how do we know what happens behind the scenes? How do we know that having an accent is not a decent handicap to not making it to the front row? How do we know that "the best for the job" is not the second cousin of the employer? Would it be possible to monitor the process so we, believe in transparency and equality and this could help us more honorably?

03/04/2023

This one is from a friend, it seems like I am clearly not alone in this journey. There is nothing more discouraging than going to an interview (a momentarily buzz after many noes) and being ignored after it, waiting and waiting and checking your emails every 5 minutes. "I even called them and still nobody picked up the phone", she said... and after that, you have to go back to keep trying and sell your abilities like you still believe in yourself, TOUGH!

31/03/2023

I'm feeling some kind of reaction to the perfect social media la-la lives. Find me on Instagram