Juan Alfonso Zapata (Dominican Republic, 1974) is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and architect. Interested in the transformation of natural and urban environments, he explores how the landscape acts simultaneously as a determining factor and a stage that reveals the cultural and economic dynamics of the communities that inhabit it.

He investigates issues of exploitation and housing in sugarcane plantation communities and hotel enclaves in the Dominican Republic –Mal de Caña (2021), premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and awarded the Prix de Média for Best Documentary at the Nouveaux Regards Festival in Guadeloupe–, as well as the connection to vernacular and mythological storytelling in migratory territories –El oro de Baitoa (2023), exhibited at the Bellapart Museum in Santo Domingo. The project Al_Caribe (2005), developed as part of the collective SUPERSUDACA, received the award for Best Participation at the Rotterdam Architecture Biennale.

Holding a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, he works as a lecturer and speaker at institutions across Latin America, Asia, and Europe. His projects range from research and audiovisual creation to the design and planning of cultural events. His work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, the Museum of the History of Barcelona, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, and Kunstinstituut Melly, among others. He has received awards and grants, including one from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, has been shortlisted twice for the Eduardo León Jimenes Art Prize, and completed a research and production residency at Casa Planas in Mallorca.