*Cecilia Paredes
Bio
"My biography describes me as a 'nomad'; it likely stems from a need to explore the constant urge I feel to move. I am also deeply concerned by the fact that flora, as we know it, is tending to disappear. I believe my work blends aesthetics and anthropology to record fragments of both my personal and social memory."
Cecilia Paredes constructs objects using discarded and recycled natural elements, creating a new language through her work. She also produces drawings, prints, sculptures, and performances using makeup, body paint, or any other medium to create her anthropomorphic imagery—transforming herself into animals, plants, or landscapes. These acts are captured through photography, resulting in her "photo-performances."
Statement
Cecilia Paredes lived in Mexico City and Rome for several years before settling in San José, Costa Rica, for 24 years. Currently, she resides in the United States—specifically in Philadelphia—where she teaches art at the University of Pennsylvania. Within this trans-territorial dynamic, Paredes has continuously deepened her academic and professional development as an artist. She lives and works between the United States and Peru, while always maintaining a strong emotional connection to Costa Rica.
Since the beginning of her career, Paredes has centered her work on the fluid notion of continuous displacement and the individual's adaptation to the sovereignty of nature, rooted in a universal and ontological perspective. The artist possesses the ability to produce objects with profound expressive power. Each piece is a collection in itself, and every element serves as a record steeped in history. She creates landscapes in which she uses her own body as a canvas.
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in
