Sara Ramírez Márquez, 2001
Composer from Bogotá.
She studied Composition for Films and Media at UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES and Electroacoustic Composition at the UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM.
Her works have been performed internationally in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland, Colombia, Argentina, and Thailand; and her original scores have featured in films officially selected for the BIRMINGHAM FILM FESTIVAL and the BOGOTÁ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
Her interests revolve around immersive sound, environmental sound, and religious studies. Her current creative practice integrates electronic improvisation, poetry, spoken text, and multilingualism.
CV available upon request via email.
"I am a person of many passions. Beyond music, I am deeply interested in literature, writing, languages, fashion, sculpture, art, beauty, and theology. Somehow, the paths I have taken throughout my life led me to study composition professionally, and it was there that I found an extraordinarily expansive space in which all of my questions could coexist. Composition became a place where different forms of knowledge, sensitivity, and curiosity could meet.
In my music, I seek to bring together all the things that interest me. For this reason, I often engage with themes related to spiritual inquiry, biblical texts, language, and sound ecology. The latter offers me a particular way of relating to the external world, to nature, and to realities that extend far beyond my own experience. Although I am not especially inclined towards outdoor activities, I have come to understand that contemplating creation is one of the deepest ways of drawing closer to God. Field recording and attentive listening to the environment have therefore become important practices within both my artistic and spiritual life.
Over time, I have come to understand that composition is not, for me, a form of personal expression in the conventional sense. It resembles carpentry more than self-expression: a patient and careful labour that allows me to enter states of deep concentration and contemplation. To create is to participate in God’s creative nature; to be made in His image is also to be made to create. In this sense, composing is a form of attention. It is the time I devote to observing, reflecting, and attempting to better understand the existence of God and His influence on my own life.
During the years in which I completed my undergraduate studies and later pursued a Master’s degree abroad, I began to feel increasingly burdened by certain dynamics of contemporary life. Social media, constantly overstimulating environments, and the persistent concern with reputation, success, and personal growth led me to question many of the conventions that structure everyday life. Gradually, I felt the need to distance myself from some of them.
Today, I try to devote my time to reading, learning new languages, and studying disciplines that broaden my understanding of the world. I am particularly interested in theology and philosophy, as well as questions concerning the future of younger generations of artists. I often reflect on what it means to live a good life, how to cultivate both intellect and spirit, and how to draw closer to God in the midst of a fast-moving and noisy world.
I like to think that the world is not as broken as it sometimes appears. Nevertheless, I believe it is necessary to maintain a certain distance from the things that fragment our attention in order to nourish ourselves, continue growing, and care for what truly matters. My artistic practice emerges from this desire to seek meaning, silence, and contemplation.
Perhaps that is why, despite being an electroacoustic composer, my favourite moment of the day remains the one in which everything falls silent."