JC Candanedo Full Biography

Juan Carlos Candanedo Sáez (born 1975 in Panama City, Republic of Panama), professionally known as JC Candanedo, is a London-based, queer multi-disciplinary artist and humanist activist. Working primarily with photography, Candanedo uses his camera as a tool for activism, social justice, and representation, while his broader practice spans textile work, installation, performance, analogue processes, plant-based pigment research, and community-engaged art.

His work explores themes of identity, migration, humanism, diaspora, and self-representation, often developed through long-term collaborations with communities and advocacy groups. Across media, Candanedo’s practice is rooted in the belief that the arts can be a powerful vehicle for solidarity, social change, and ethical storytelling.

Early Life and Background

JC Candanedo was born in Panama to a Catalan-Panamanian family and raised in Panama City. He attended Colegio San Agustín, a private Catholic school known for its academic rigour, before studying Computer Science at Universidad Santa María la Antigua (USMA), one of Panama’s leading universities.

After university, he moved to Barcelona, where he spent nearly fifteen years working in project management and telecommunications. He later relocated to New York City, where he retrained in photography at the New York Institute of Photography, and subsequently lived in Sydney before settling in London, where he currently lives and works.

Artistic Practice

JC Candanedo started his artistic practice in 2014, after he moved to London. He started out as a commercial photographer, focusing on fashion, beauty and portraiture, and traded under the studio name of Grey Pistachio. Later on, he felt the need to run a more personal practice, one that aligned more with his own values and beliefs. In 2019, he started trading under his own name and eventually shifted the focus of his work to a more socially-engaged practice.

Candanedo’s work examines belonging, historical memory, human rights, identity, and the experiences of diasporic and underrepresented communities. His approach merges contemporary arts with experimental and traditional methods, including:

  • early photographic processes

  • performance art

  • plant-based pigments and textile techniques

  • community co-creation and embedded research

His work has appeared in public art commissions, national exhibitions, and international publications.

Publications

Seeing Changes (2024)

Seeing Changes is Candanedo’s debut photo essay, created over 18 months in collaboration with young people from the Prince’s Trust “Team” programme at Waltham Forest College. The project combines analogue photography and handwritten annotations to explore resilience, hope, and personal transformation. The photographs were taken using a vintage Ensign Ranger II camera, linking the work to East London’s history of camera manufacturing.

In his introductory essay, Candanedo writes:

“We are all living in someone else’s Utopia. No matter how bad our current situation seems, our life right now is what another person might be wishing for the future. When we feel like life has dealt us the wrong cards, it is easy to lose sight of how fortunate we are. But, in the end, what makes you a winner is not the cards you are dealt. It all comes down to how you play them.”

Humanism and Advocacy

A lifelong secularist and advocate for human rights, Candanedo is an active supporter of Humanists International and a member of Humanists UK. He regularly writes and speaks about the intersection of arts, ethics, and activism.

In his essay for Humanists International, My Humanism is a Work in Progress, he states:

“My Humanism is my personal philosophy of life. I strive to be an ethical, compassionate and responsible person every single day.”

He was also featured on the Humanism Now podcast (Episode 36), discussing how art can drive solidarity, identity, and representation.

Noria Collective

Candanedo is the co-founder of Noria Collective, alongside Sandy Abdelrahman. Noria is a non-profit creative organisation that uses the Arts to amplify the voices of people from the Global Majority in the UK, particularly those from Latin American and North African/Arab diasporic communities.

Recognitions and Roles

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)

  • Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees, Axis (Axisweb)

  • Co-Founder and Director, Noria Collective

  • Member, Association of Photographers - AOP, Sustainability Working Group

  • Fellow, UK Creative Community Fellowship (2021) — Derby Museums, National Arts Service, University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Social Impact Strategy

  • Resident Artist, Orleans House Gallery (Artists Make Space 2025–26)