In encounters that transcend geographical coordinates, art often becomes a meeting point of history and fiction, intimacy and politics, the body and borders. Adriana Trujillo, a Mexican film director and artist whose work emerges at the crossroads of performance, documentary film, and archival fiction, places at the center of her inquiry precisely what the media attempts to render invisible — the complex dynamics of power, migration, and the narratives that shape our collective perception of reality.
In this interview for Vagon Portal, Trujillo speaks about her project No News Agency, contemporary forms of information and emotional manipulation, and the shifting nature of borders — both real and imagined. She reflects on the role of art in a time when images no longer possess a stable relationship to truth. Her perspective, rooted in Latin America and now expanded through her experiences in the Balkans, opens up new spaces for storytelling, where the political and the personal are not separated but instead feed into one another.
This is a conversation about resilience, intimacy, and the power of imagination as the last remaining space of freedom.
1. How did your journey in film and visual arts begin? My journey in media art began with a fascination for images and movement, driven by curiosity and the intention to discover. At one point, the camera became a tool for exploring my city. Growing up in Tijuana.. a border city with access to second-hand technology, which was relatively easy to acquire, I started experimenting with archives, Super 8 mm film, and other formats. Through these, I captured personal and collective memories within the frames of the past.
2. Has your artistic practice always been interdisciplinary, or did it develop over time? My work has always been interdisciplinary. Beginning with my background in dance, my early projects explored video and performance, integrating archival footage. Over time, this evolved into a deeper investigation of the borders of media, with non-fiction serving as a guiding thread. Through documentary and experimental pieces, I’ve embraced multiple mediums, film, video, installation, and performance. The intersection of these forms enables me to challenge traditional boundaries and engage with complex ideas in a fluid and dynamic way.
3. What has shaped you the most as an artist – specific events, theoretical influences, or personal experiences? A key factor that has shaped me as an artist is my experience of being born in a border town like Tijuana, a city defined not just by its geographical limits but by its constant crossing of borders, hybridization, and a sense of living in the margins. Growing up in this environment taught me about self-reliance, collaboration, and grassroots organization. In Tijuana, if something doesn’t exist, you create it. The city is constant movement and youthful energy foster a space where artistic proposals can flourish. This spirit deeply shaped my work, leading me to organize film festivals, exhibitions, and cultural spaces, as well as produce films without the typical structures of large budgets. Instead, I’ve embraced a more poetic, free-flowing narrative approach that evolves from conceptual exploration to experimental editing…especially when working with archives.
This personal history intersects with my more recent experiences living in Banja Luka and engaging with Serbian culture. Moving here has sparked new inspiration, as I now navigate between Mexican and Serbian cultural landscapes, each rich with their own tensions, histories, and unique traditions. This duality is opening new paths for my creativity and reshaping my artistic lens.
On the theoretical side, I draw heavily from a range of influences that inform both my process and perspective. Filmmakers like Harun Farocki, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Godard, and Jonas Mekas inspire my engagement with visual essays as tools for critical and poetic exploration. Thinkers like Foucault, Deleuze, Adorno, and Lacan provide a framework for examining power structures, subjectivity, and the relationship between images and meaning. Critics such as Hal Foster, George Didi-Huberman, and Raymond Bellour help me understand the intersections between visual art, media, and cultural representation. Finally, the teachings of Josep Maria Català, my professor during my master’s program in Barcelona, profoundly shaped my understanding of audiovisual language and the essayistic approach, connecting academic rigor with creative practice.
4. Your work merges documentary film, experimental video, and gallery-based art. How do you balance these three worlds? Balancing these worlds comes naturally as they each offer a distinct way to interact with the audience. Film allows for narrative exploration, video for fragmented, poetic expression, and gallery installations bring a spatial, immersive experience. The key is weaving them together so that each medium speaks to the other, creating a unified conversation rather than distinct practices.
5. Have you ever felt limited by the language of film, leading you to explore installation and performance? The language of narrative film can sometimes feel too linear or confined, especially when addressing complex social issues. Nowadays, with multiple windows, we see a constant push to break boundaries in formats. Personally, a combination of non-fiction, installation, and performance provides a space for more intuitive and fragmented engagement, offering a richer and more immediate experience. These mediums expand the narrative beyond the screen, breaking the fourth wall and inviting active participation
6. What does your creative process look like – does the idea, research, or visual concept come first? It's a flexible and natural process. I usually start with research, paying attention to the historical, emotional, or contextual aspects of what I want to convey. From there, I let the ideas and visuals emerge spontaneously, allowing everything to flow and take shape on its own. Films also go through long periods of time and labor, involving writing and rewriting to find structures and narratives. This phase forms the second framework. The third emerges during filming, where the vision begins to materialize. Finally, the fourth takes place in the editing process, adding a final layer often described as a 'third writing,' where the story is refined and gains its ultimate shape.
7. No News Agency explores the boundaries between facts and interpretation in the media. How did you develop this concept? The concept of No News Agency arose from my growing concern about how information is manipulated and interpreted in the media, particularly around borders and identity. By examining the Tijuana and Bosnia borders, I wanted to expose the complex layers of perception, ideology, love and power that shape how we understand the world.
Do you believe that art can play a role in exposing the political and economic forces shaping media narratives? Absolutely. Art allows us to engage with these forces on an emotional and intellectual level that transcends traditional media. By presenting alternative narratives and perspectives, art can challenge dominant ideologies and provoke critical reflection on how media shapes our understanding of reality.
What kind of audience reactions have you received so far for this project? The reactions have been deeply reflective, with audiences often expressing a renewed sense of awareness about the complexity of media narratives. Some have noted how the project forces them to reconsider their perceptions of borders, both literal and metaphorical.
10. In No News Agency, you examine the borders of Tijuana and Bosnia. How did you establish this parallel? The parallel between Tijuana and Bosnia emerged from my interest in the concept of 'borders,' understood as both physical and psychological barriers. Despite being geographically distant, these regions share a history of political struggle, migration, and media manipulation. The comparison highlights how borders (both tangible and imagined), continue to shape identities and media narratives, while also revealing unexpected connections. On a more personal and emotional level, this work reflects the story of two individuals who meet and connect, despite coming from regions that seem worlds apart. Yet, there’s a deep-rooted thread that ties everything together, rooted in the shared history of the former Yugoslavia. This connection became the guiding thread of the project. From there, the idea of constructing or deconstructing an 'emotional newscast' emerged, blending seemingly contradictory elements to challenge conventional storytellin.
U vremenu kada slike više ne garantuju istinu, a granice postaju sve apstraktnije, Adriana Trujillo nas podsjeća da umjetnost ostaje prostor otpora, imaginacije i prisnosti. Kroz interdisciplinarni rad koji prepliće lično i političko, Tihuanu i Bosnu, arhivu i performans, Trujillo ne samo da otvara prostor za alternativne narative, već stvara osjećaj zajedničkog disanja onih koji su izopšteni, raseljeni ili nevidljivi. Njen rad nas poziva da gledamo dublje, slušamo pažljivije i ne prestajemo da zamišljamo nove mogućnosti stvarnosti.
