Lupe Arens focu­ses on cre­a­ting short films and pho­to­grap­hic pro­jects that high­light femi­ni­ni­ty and the aes­the­tics of kitsch. With a play­ful yet cri­ti­cal appro­ach, Arens explo­res how the­se ele­ments can be used to con­vey dee­per nar­ra­ti­ves and emo­ti­ons, blen­ding visu­al allu­re with sub­stan­ti­ve depth. 

Her recent film, tit­led The First Sin (2023, 8 min) is a video work that takes a cri­ti­cal look at the port­rayal of women in cine­ma and the cul­tu­ral con­text behind it. This short film uti­li­zes makeup, cos­tu­mes, set design, and foley sound to gui­de the vie­wer through a series of care­ful­ly selec­ted cine­ma­tic refe­ren­ces. These ele­ments are employ­ed to dis­sect and chal­len­ge the com­mon arche­ty­pes and ste­reo­ty­pes sur­roun­ding women on screen. Through this appro­ach, the film demon­stra­tes how the­se visu­al and audi­to­ry tech­ni­ques con­tri­bu­te to sha­ping the per­cep­ti­on of fema­le charac­ters and reveals how dee­ply root­ed the­se port­rayals are in film his­to­ry. The First Sin invi­tes the vie­wer to reflect on the impli­ca­ti­ons of such repre­sen­ta­ti­ons and chal­len­ges them to recog­ni­ze and under­stand the impli­cit mes­sa­ges within popu­lar culture. 

Next to her prac­ti­ce as an artist, Lupe orga­ni­zes art events, which allow her to mer­ge her prac­ti­cal, artis­tic, and cura­to­ri­al skills. These pro­jects pro­vi­de a plat­form for her to sha­re her own art and visi­on, whi­le also fos­te­ring dia­lo­gue around femi­ni­ni­ty and art within the community.