I was born in a corner of the Colombian Caribbean called Cartagena de Indias, a beautiful and complex city, both loved and hated, that has shaped my character as a person and as an artist.
Since I was a child, I’ve always been interested in painting, drawing, and anything that could be created, transformed, and molded with hands.
Over time, my passion and curiosity for the arts took me to the School of Fine Arts of Bolívar in the city of Cartagena where I pursued studies in visual arts.
Shortly after, I became a history student and, eventually, a historian, but not to step away from the world of art, rather to complement it.
When you step out of the walls of the Historic Center of Cartagena de Indias, the city begins to fortify itself. The colorful colonial houses are now replaced by piled-up boards, metal sheets, and plastic panels…
‘Ciudad parapeto’ (Bastion City) is a series of works in which I aim to showcase the significant socio-economic and spatial disparities present in the city. It’s a journey through the city’s depressed neighborhoods, streets filled with noise and chaos, displaying an architecture that highlights the vast social class divide, showing the distance of the Cartageneros from that well-maintained, excessively touristic colonial city found only within the walls.
With ‘Ciudad parapeto,’ I also want to highlight the pollution issue, the gases, the deafening noises, and the trash engulfing the streets, as well as the scarce flora and fauna surrounding this old hamlet.
