10 Questions with Zahira Barneto

Zahira Barneto (b. Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish-American visual artist whose work explores spirituality, consciousness, and the unseen dimensions of existence. Trained in Fine Arts at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, she later worked as a production designer in film between Madrid and New York City.

Her creative path transformed through her study of ceremonial and shamanic traditions across the Americas. Guided by visions received through her work with ritual and plant medicine, Zahira began developing a new way of painting, one rooted in energy, frequency, and transformation.

Her ongoing series, Frequencies, translates these transmissions into matter, creating portals that bridge spirit and form. Each oil-on-canvas piece emerges through a slow, intuitive process uniting ancient techniques with visionary depth. Now based in Madrid, Zahira continues to develop new works, invite commissions, and share painting as a form of medicine between the visible and invisible.

zahirabarneto.com | @zahirabarneto

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My paintings are offerings, transmissions received through ceremony and dialogue with the unseen. Rooted in the wisdom of master plants and shamanic practice, my process is one of listening. Each work begins in ritual silence, opening to frequencies that move through me, visions, colours, forms, translated onto canvas. I do not paint what I imagine; I paint what arrives.

Art, to me, is an act of service, a bridge between spirit and matter. Frequencies emerged from this dialogue with the Great Spirit, as each image revealed itself as vibration, a pulse of energy seeking form. The paintings unfold slowly, each layer a conversation with the invisible.

I work primarily with oil and ancient tempera, grounding the mystical in the material. These works are not mine to own; I am their messenger, sharing the quiet language of the unseen, where silence becomes light, and energy becomes form.”

— Zahira Barneto

INTERVIEW

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how your artistic journey first began?

I was born and raised in Madrid, and from a very young age, I was sensitive, dreamy, and often connected to a world beyond the visible, always floating somewhere between reality and imagination. At some point in my teens, I knew I wanted to become an artist and attained a Fine Arts Bachelor's Degree at the Universidad Complutense. At that time, however, I was still too young to fully understand my own visual language.
My path naturally led me into film production design, a world where I could explore storytelling visually, first in Spain and later in New York City. Painting was always present, quietly waiting. It wasn’t until later, through personal transformation, motherhood, and deep introspection, that I began fully allowing the kind of work I make today to come through. My artistic journey has been less about seeking and more about remembering and opening to what wants to emerge.

You trained in Fine Arts and later worked in film production design. How did those early experiences shape your visual language?

Studying Fine Arts gave me the technical foundation, drawing, composition, and color, but it was film production design that taught me to sense and shape atmosphere, to feel how a space can hold emotion. Those experiences now inform my paintings, though in a more abstract way.
My work isn’t about representing objects or spaces; it’s about energy and frequency. I believe the body of work I’m doing has the capacity to transform the energy of a room and touch something unseen in the viewer, or at least this is my intention.

What led you to explore ceremonial and shamanic traditions, and how did they influence your shift in artistic practice?

My interest in ceremonial and shamanic traditions began during a period of personal healing, even as I was building a successful career in film production design. While I loved the creative world of film, my time learning from master plant traditions in North America opened a very different kind of space, one guided by intuition, silence, and inner vision.
During ceremonies, I began receiving clear messages to paint. At first, I resisted; leaving a thriving production company felt impossible. But the visions kept returning, and life gradually rearranged itself in ways that made it undeniable. I realized that the stories I was experiencing couldn’t be expressed through film, they needed a more direct, personal medium.
The shift from film to painting wasn’t a planned transition but a calling I eventually surrendered to. Once I picked up the brushes, it became clear that this was the path where my inner world and artistic expression could fully come together.

Oil and ancient tempera are central to your work. What draws you to these media?

I use oil because, for the kind of colors and surfaces I’m working with right now, it’s simply the medium that gives me the best results. I’m an intuitive painter, so I choose whatever feels right in the moment, often without a logical reason other than impulse. I make my first sketches in watercolor because it’s fast, flexible, and lets me try out ideas in color immediately.
Egg tempera is something I loved back in college, and I still like experimenting with it in the studio, mostly out of curiosity and a desire to explore how different materials behave. For me, it’s all about trying things, seeing how they react, and letting the medium itself guide the process.

Your process begins with ritual and silence. Can you describe what typically happens before you start painting?

Before I begin, I sit in stillness, close my eyes, and breathe until everything inside and around me settles. I create a quiet space, sometimes with sound or incense, sometimes with nothing at all. The intention is simply to open, to listen, to allow.
When I approach a painting, whether it’s a Cosmic Portrait or a specific frequency for a space, I focus on being receptive rather than directing the outcome. I let myself enter what I call “the flow,” a state where I stop thinking and start feeling. From there, shapes, colors, and textures begin to move through me. The painting guides the process; I just follow where it wants to go.

Awareness, Oil On Canvas, 100x150 cm, 2025 © Zahira Barneto

The Womb, Oil On Canvas, 100x150 cm, 2025 © Zahira Barneto

How do visions, colours, or forms “arrive” at you during the creation of a piece?

The visions, colors, and forms arrive from a place of stillness. It’s less about seeing an image and more about feeling a story, an emotion, or an energy surface from within. These impressions come as a kind of knowing, a vibration I sense in my body that I then translate into movement, color, and form. This is why I call the series Frequencies: each piece begins as a resonance, something alive, that I’m simply allowing to move through me onto the canvas.

Spirituality and consciousness are key themes in your work. What aspects of these subjects are you most drawn to exploring?

I don’t really experience my work as “exploring” spirituality or consciousness. It feels more like the paintings themselves carry a consciousness that moves through me. They arrive with their own purpose, almost as if they’re meant to be of service in the world they enter. During the creation process, they support me, and once they’re finished, they support others in ways I could never plan or predict.
My role is simply to stay open, present, and in service to what wants to come through, to give these energies form and make them visible enough for others to encounter. In that sense, the work feels like a kind of medicine, and I’m just the channel through which it comes into being.

Your series Frequencies acts as a bridge between the seen and unseen. What do you hope viewers experience when they encounter these paintings?

The paintings carry their own energy and frequency. I hope viewers feel something before trying to understand it, an impression, a vibration, a shift in the atmosphere, or their inner state. Each work brings forward a resonance that connects with what is already present within the viewer, allowing them to notice or recognize it.

Worms Of The Universe, Oil On Canvas, 150x100 cm, 2025 © Zahira Barneto

How do you balance intuition with technique as each layer of a painting unfolds?

Technique gives structure, but the work itself leads. I know the materials well enough to trust how they behave, yet I don’t impose control. Intuition is about listening, staying present, and responding to what emerges. I let the painting guide each layer, while using techniques to help bring the vision through clearly.

Looking ahead, what new projects or directions are you excited to explore in the next stage of your practice?

I’m expanding the Frequencies series, exploring larger-scale works that carry even more presence and resonance. I’m also developing a deeper body of work around the Cosmic Portraits, created through energetic readings of individuals.
I’m excited to be showing some work at a London art fair in April, and I’m looking forward to seeing what opportunities and connections will emerge next. The next stage feels like an opening, allowing the work to exist more fully in the world while staying true to its natural emergence.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

Apply for an interview >>

Related Interviews