Ennisofia
Salmela Flores
Contact
Links
Areas of expertise
Biography
I began my doctoral studies in Art History at the University of Turku in Autumn 2026. I graduated with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Turku in 2013, majoring in Art History. Following my master's studies, I have expanded my expertise in contemporary art and museum work through positions as a museum guide at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), a researcher in the photographic archives of the Helsinki City Museum, and an assistant at Gallery Hippolyte of the Association of Photographic Artists. I have worked as an artist in Argentina, particularly in Tucumán, where, e.g., I produced a post-artwork in collaboration with Historians without Borders organisation. My experience working as an assistant for a Finnish lens-based artist in Peru and Chile, involving extensive cross-cultural collaboration and international networking, as well as broader engagement with Latin America, has deepened my understanding of the region's historical, political, and cultural context.
Research
My doctoral research examines the meanings of insilio in Argentine political and feminist art from the country's last military dictatorship (1976–83) to the present day. The Spanish-language neologism insilio refers to life under an oppressive regime in which individuals do not leave their homeland but rather become estranged from their familiar realities. The term has been associated with silence, alienation, and the loss of memory and identity.
In my research, I define insilio through the lenses of political art, identity, and memory. I investigate how artworks from four different decades engage with political transformations and developments within feminist movements, and how the meanings of insilio can be identified and interpreted in feminist and political art. The study is grounded in postcolonial, poststructuralist, and feminist theories that challenge and deconstruct Eurocentric perspectives.