Paola Farran

Biography

Paola Farran is an artist, curator, and art practitioner based in Jordan, whose interdisciplinary practice is anchored in ecological consciousness and sustainability. Her work navigates questions of identity, belonging, and the shifting boundaries of the ‘other’, tracing how systems of power shape both environmental and social landscapes. Engaging with the politics of place and the fragility of ecosystems, natural and constructed, Paola’s research-led approach is grounded in materiality. She works across photography, sculpture, and painting, with a particular sensitivity to clay and textiles, materials that carry embedded histories of land, labor, and tradition. Through this tactile inquiry, she constructs a visual language that interrogates extraction, resilience, and the interconnectedness of bodies and environments.

Paola is the co-founder of the Remote Closeness collective and currently serves as the director of mmag foundation, a contemporary art space in Amman, Jordan. In her role at the foundation, she works closely with her team to critically examine the lingering influence of colonial structures on institutional practices, interrogating how inherited frameworks shape curatorial methodologies, modes of engagement, and the language of contemporary art itself. Through this ongoing research, she explores how cultural institutions in the region can cultivate more responsive, situated approaches that are rooted in local knowledge systems, material cultures, and the lived realities of their audiences.

Paola Farran, Director at the mmag foundation, Amman, Jordan, has been awarded by the Getty Foundation (Los Angeles, USA).