The story of Ana Benegas Haddad is the story of an artist who has never allowed herself to be defined by a single discipline. Born in San Sebastián in 1958, she has embraced poetry, song, sculpture, and psychology, weaving them together into a body of work that is both diverse and unified by vision. Her creations are not confined to the aesthetic realm; they are instruments of transformation, shaped by her lifelong commitment to peace, culture, and humanity. She belongs to that rare lineage of artists for whom art is not simply an individual pursuit but a form of collective awakening.
Biography
Ana Benegas Haddad’s career reflects an extraordinary fusion of art and social commitment. As a poet and writer, she has authored children’s stories for the Ministry of Culture and Education, contributed to countless anthologies, and continues to prepare her complete poetic anthology—a project that brings together decades of literary work. Her poetry is as present on the page as it is on stage, where she has given life to words through recitals and performances that bridge the intimate with the universal.
Her work as a singer-songwriter culminated in the creation of the vinyl Poema a dos Voces, a lyrical and musical collaboration recognized by the Ministry of Culture of Spain for its literary and poetic quality. This recognition was not only an acknowledgment of her skill as a lyricist and performer but also a testament to her ability to bring poetry into resonance with music, creating an art form that is both deeply personal and universally accessible.
As a sculptor, her bronze works have been exhibited in more than forty national and international exhibitions, and today find their place in museums and private collections. Her sculpture, marked by fluidity and organic form, reveals her deep understanding of matter as a bearer of meaning.
Her achievements have been recognized with numerous awards, including the International Machu Picchu Award (twice), the Golden Scroll, the Nelson Mandela Certificate (2022), and the First Prize in All Arts CIESART (2023). She has received an Honorary Mention in Sculpture in France, alongside multiple nominations such as the Peace and Music CIESART (2024) and All Arts CIESART (2025). These recognitions reflect not only her artistic achievements but also her tireless engagement with humanitarian and cultural causes.
Beyond her creative output, Ana has assumed major roles in international institutions. She is the International President of the Chamber of Writers & Artists (CIESART), Coordinator in Spain of the Panorama International Arts Festival, Vice President of NGO ACA Global Congo, Cultural Ambassador of UMEA, and International Ambassador of IFCH. She presides over the International Music and Art Directorates of CIESART and serves as a member of its World Advisory Council. Her academic and civic recognition includes the title of Doctor Honoris Causa and her role as Technical Advisor at the National Congress of the Third Age.
Ana has consistently demonstrated that her vision of art is inseparable from her commitment to humanity. As a Defender of Art for Change, she has promoted art as a force of liberation, transformation, and peace. She has organized workshops for children and adults, collaborated with humanitarian initiatives, and served as a visible cultural voice in the media. Whether through poetry, music, or sculpture, her work is always directed toward social justice, collective healing, and the affirmation of human dignity.
Interior: The Language of the Inner World
For the Panorama International Arts Festival, Ana Benegas Haddad presents her sculpture Interior, a work that reveals the essence of her artistic philosophy. Sculpted in black, it carries within it a fluid organic rhythm, at once mysterious and inviting. Its undulating contours recall natural forms—perhaps a seed, a shell, or a fragment of bone—yet it resists any single interpretation.
At the heart of Interior are its voids: openings that punctuate the form, shaping it not only by what is present but by what is absent. These hollows are not mere gaps; they are living spaces, resonant with silence. They call the viewer into themselves, asking us to recognize the hidden chambers of our own being.
The sculpture thus embodies the very meaning of its title. Interior is not only a physical form but a meditation on the unseen, on the invisible dimensions of existence that lie beneath the surface of life. It suggests that art, like the psyche, has layers that can only be accessed through contemplation. In this way, the sculpture mirrors Ana’s work as a poet and psychologist: probing the interior life, transforming silence into expression, and creating meaning where others might see only emptiness.
Viewed in the light of her wider career, Interior becomes more than a sculpture. It becomes a symbol of Ana’s lifelong vocation: to draw attention to the invisible, to give shape to the ineffable, and to awaken the interior world in each of us. Just as her poetry and song invite us to listen within, this sculpture opens a silent dialogue between form and void, presence and absence, matter and spirit.
Ana Benegas Haddad stands today as a luminous figure in contemporary art and culture. Her achievements in poetry, music, sculpture, and cultural leadership form a tapestry of creativity inseparable from social responsibility. She has shown the world that art is not an isolated act but a communal force, capable of transforming lives and healing wounds.
Her sculpture Interior captures the essence of this vision: it is an object of beauty, but more than that, it is a call to reflection. In honoring her at the Panorama International Arts Festival, we honor an artist who has given her life to the pursuit of truth through art, and whose work continues to remind us that the deepest journeys are those we undertake within.