Eli Farinango

Eli Farinango is an indigenous artist and visual storyteller, born in Kichwa territory
(Quito, Ecuador) and raised in Ottawa, Canada (Algonquin Territory). Her documentary
work focuses on cultural identity, indigenous healing practices, the connection between
body/territory and personal histories of migration. Through her work she advocates for
indigenous visual sovereignty, and reciprocal collaborative practices.
She is a graduate from the University of Toronto (2004), In 2020, she was awarded the
Jan Mulder scholarship to attend the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism
Program at the International Center for Photography. She has attended residencies at
the Banff Centre for the Arts, she was a Women Photograph Mentee (2019), a member
of the 2021 Eddie Adams Workshop cohort, and in 2021 she attended the New York
Times Portfolio Review. In 2022, she was invited as an artist in residence at the Center
for Photography in Woodstock.
Her work appears in The New Republic, NPR, WTLF, Terremoto Magazine, and has
been exhibited in various venues across North America including Photoville, Toronto

Media Arts Center, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, the International Center of
Photography, and the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples.
Her work has received support from Women Photograph, Indigenous Photograph,
National Geographic, Leica and Ontario Arts Council.
Eli is a member of Women Photograph, Diversify Photo’s UPnext, Indigenous
Photograph and Kichwa Hatari. She is currently based between Haudenosaunee
territory (Hamilton, Canada) and Lenape Territory (New York City).