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, collage 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 in 2024 and 2025. She received an Honourable Mention in Photography at the Warringah Art Prize in 2015. 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 a strong foundation in visual storytelling to her artistic practice. She is co-founder of Kayapa Creative Studio, where she documents artists 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.'