Cynthia Acuna

Short Biography

Cynthia began exhibiting in Paraguay in 2012 before completing a BA in Creative Arts at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, in 2022. She was shortlisted for the Emerging Scene Art Prize in Dubai in 2021, and has since built an active international exhibition record, including presentations in London, the Netherlands, and across the UAE. In 2026, she completed a Drawing Foundations course at the Royal Drawing School, UK. Her practice is informed by an ongoing dream-journaling process that provides the imagery and recurring motifs central to her work.

Education

Cynthia holds a BA in Creative Arts from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia (2022) and completed a Drawing Foundations Course at the Royal Drawing School, United Kingdom (2026). She also received an AUGM Scholarship to Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile, in 2014.

Exhibitions

Cynthia's exhibition record spans Paraguay, Chile, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the UAE. Her 2026 participations include 'Held, Unheld' at Maha Al Mansoori Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (online group exhibition); 'Collective Emergence' at Rooted, Warehouse 34, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai; and 'Ojalá/Oxalá' at 1604 Art Space, Dubai. In 2025, she participated in the International Association for the Study of Dreams Annual Conference Art Exhibition online and in SQVE 4 at Sakku Art Studio, Dubai. Her 2024 exhibitions include 'Dreams: An Unconscious Journey' at Chaka Art Gallery, Al Fahidi, Dubai, and the International Association for the Study of Dreams 2024 Annual Conference Art Exhibition in Kerkrade, the Netherlands. In 2023, she participated in 'Dreams and Nightmares' at Boomer Art Gallery, London. Her earliest exhibitions were in Asunción, Paraguay, in 2012 and 2013, at the Centro Cultural de España 'Juan de Salazar' and the Centro Cultural Manzana de la Rivera.

Awards

Cynthia was shortlisted for the Emerging Scene Art Prize in Dubai in 2021 and received an AUGM Scholarship to Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile, in 2014.

Artistic Style

Cynthia's drawings are rooted in a sustained dream-journaling practice that generates the imagery, recurring figures, and symbolic elements found throughout her work. Female figures, animals, insects, and natural forms appear and reappear across compositions that sit between realism and surrealism, rendered with fine detail in coloured pencil and graphite. The resulting works are personal in origin but deliberately ambiguous in reading, producing visual narratives that resist singular interpretation and invite the viewer to bring their own reflection to what they see.