In 2019, I had the opportunity to participate in Colombian Artists in Italy, an exhibition curated by art critic Giorgio Bonomi, Anna Sulai Capponi, and America Montaña Bolaños at the Rocca di Umbertide.

The exhibition brought together ten Colombian artists living in different parts of Italy, creating a dialogue between diverse languages, generations and artistic practices. Rather than searching for a common aesthetic, the exhibition began from a shared origin and a common point of arrival: Colombia and Italy as two places capable of generating connections, displacement and new ways of seeing.

Painting, sculpture, photography, and different figurative and abstract approaches came together within the same space, creating a plural panorama of Colombian creativity in Italy.

The exhibition did not seek to represent a single vision of Colombia or follow a specific aesthetic theory. Its strength lay precisely in its diversity: different trajectories, generations, territories and ways of understanding artistic practice brought together through a shared experience of displacement and belonging.

For me, being part of the exhibition also meant connecting with other Colombian artists who, like me, had developed their practices in Italy from different places and experiences. The encounter revealed affinities, contrasts and possible synergies between practices emerging in different parts of the country.

Colombian Artists in Italy was presented at the Rocca di Umbertide from 3 April to 12 May 2019, offering a multifaceted record of part of the Colombian artistic presence in Italy.

Rocca di Umbertide · 3 April – 12 May 2019. The participating artists were Francisco Gaona, Fanor Hernández Ordóñez, Rubén Martínez, Lucía Italia Morana, Juan Eugenio Ochoa, Andrés Pardo Gómez, Natalia Pontón, Mauro Federico Romero Bayter, Natalia Triviño Lozano and Lalula Vivenzi.