As a child, Valencia, Spain-based artist Carla Fuentes made a fly out of paper and glue and brought it everywhere with her. She saw a value in flies that others overlooked. For her, they were humble companions, and later became daily companions in the solitude of her studio.

Her latest exhibition, “En boca cerrada también entran moscas” (or “Flies also enter in closed mouths”), is an invitation for introspection. The flies in her paintings serve as reminders of how small we really are — “something that many seem to have forgotten in these times now governed by the collection of likes, shares, and followers.” 

With her paintings, Fuentes begs the question: “In an era in which we spend hours connected to social networks, aren’t we all a little bit like the fly? Crawling up against the glass screen? Wanting to see the world?”

See more from Carla Fuentes below!