Carolina Caycedo: From the Bottom of the River

This exhibition's content is available in both Spanish and English.

London-born Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo (b. 1978) lives and works in Los Angeles.

Through her studio practice and fieldwork with riverside communities impacted by large-scale infrastructure projects around the world, Caycedo makes work that addresses humanity’s relationship with nature. She works on the front-lines of social and environmental justice, gathering materials, experiences, objects, and feelings to make her multidisciplinary work.

Informed by Indigenous philosophies, Caycedo’s work challenges us to understand nature not as a resource to be exploited, but as a living and spiritual entity that unites people beyond borders. Her innovative approach integrates an art-making practice in the studio with actions in communities affected by the large-scale extraction of natural resources by corporations and governments, inviting viewers to consider the unsustainable pace of growth under capitalism—and how we might bolster resistance, solidarity, and cultural and environmental biodiversity.

Carolina Caycedo: From the Bottom of the Riversurveys the last ten years of Caycedo’s artistic practice and prominently features Be Dammed(2012– ), an ongoing multimedia project that examines the impact of hydroelectric dams and other major infrastructure projects on riverine communities and the natural world. It also features Caycedo’s powerful Cosmotarrayas, a series of net sculptures produced through fieldwork in areas where the privatization of waterways has irrevocably altered the ability of local communities to live and work. The exhibition encompasses video, drawing, photography, sculpture, and performance and reflects the importance of process and participation in Caycedo’s work.

The exhibition is organized by Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator Carla Acevedo-Yates with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Assistant. It is presented in the Bergman Family Gallery on the museum's second floor.