Gabriela Villalba is a Venezuelan-born photographer and graphic designer based in Sydney. Since moving to Australia in 2013, she has developed a practice spanning documentary portraiture and experimental photography. Her camera has documented much of the creative culture of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, capturing artists and their expressive processes.
Gabby’s journey into self-portraiture expanded the boundaries of her documentary photography. Through re-signifying images and materials, she creates photographic hybrids exploring identity, memory and self-awareness.
Committed to a more conscious approach to image-making, Gabby works across camera-less processes, analogue and digital photography, incorporating reclaimed materials and 19th-century cyanotype printing developed under sunlight. Time, intuition and process have become essential elements of her practice, allowing each image to evolve through its own rhythm.
Gabby was a finalist in the Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize (2024, 2025) and the Mullins Conceptual Photography Art Prize (2026). Her work has been exhibited in Caracas, Miami and Sydney. With 18 years of experience as a visual communicator in Venezuela's advertising industry, she brings visual storytelling to her artistic practice. Gabby is co-founder of Kayapa Creative Studio and contributes to creative initiatives across the Northern Beaches, including La Crème Creative Inc. and Brookvale Arts District (BAD).
'As a resident of the Northern Beaches I extend my gratitude to the traditional custodians of this land. I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and future and celebrate the richness of Aboriginal cultures that continue to thrive here today.'