Photographer Carlota Guerrero on collaborating with Solange and getting signed to WeFolk (some NSFW)

Introducing Carlota Guerrero, a formerly little-known Barcelona-based photographer and art director who this summer ended up working on the artwork for one of the acclaimed albums of 2016, Solange’s A Seat at the Table. Going beyond the traditional, now somewhat staid, album release model, A Seat at the Table launched with a 112-page book shot by 26-year-old Carlota.

Last week, Carlota signed to WeFolk, where her dreamy, ethereal images will sit on the roster alongside the work of some of our favourite photographers like Juno Calypso, Ewen Spencer and Viviane Sassen.

We caught up with the creative to chat about meshing Solange’s often political message with her own, already clearly defined, aesthetic.

We hear you just got signed to WeFolk. Congratulations! How did that come about?

I reached WeFolk and WeFolk reached me at the same time, without knowing. It was a magical coincidence. I went to meet the team a month ago, and we just started to work together. They represent some of my favourite artists, so I’m very, very proud to be a part of it.

And how did you start working with Solange?

Solange’s manager got in touch with me in March. Solange had found my work on Instagram and wanted to collaborate with me for the art direction of her project. We did a performance at the Tate, had a beautiful creative connection and kept working together in the videos and the artwork for A Seat at the Table.

Tell us a bit more about the process behind creating the album’s (already iconic) artwork.

We spent the whole month of August working together, travelling from New Orleans to New Mexico in a van, shooting everyday for Cranes in the Sky and Don’t Touch My Hair. We also went to New York to shoot the cover for the album. Alan Ferguson — her husband — directed the videos and Solange and I co art directed them. I was very inspired from her way of working from the beginning. She is such a strong, talented, hard-working woman and she’s taught me a lot. She has a very strong and clear vision, but also gave me the space to have a strong and clear vision, so we had a lot of conversations and we tried to balance both our styles. The album has a very strong message about black community, and I had to learn a lot and help her translate such strong messages in a beautiful and clear visual language.