Through sculptural installations and material experimentation, artist Mariana Noreña explores how humans relate to place through ecology, history, and mythology. In this lecture, Noreña shares the evolution of her research-driven, site-responsive practice, rooted in close attention to place, material, and community. Working with locally sourced and natural materials, she examines the material memory of landscapes and how collective stories, natural phenomena, and daily gestures shape our understanding of belonging and foster deeper relationships between people and place.
Mariana Noreña Gutiérrez is a multidisciplinary artist from Bogotá, Colombia, currently based in Chicago. Working primarily with earth matter and locally sourced materials, she investigates the material memory of landscapes and natural phenomena. Through sculptural installations, her work reveals intimate and collective stories that speak to time, transformation, and our symbiotic relationship with the environment.
Her work has been exhibited, published, and collected nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions such as Territorio Ceniza at Murmuration (Chicago), Instructions for a Walk at Garage 04 (Karlsruhe), and Reflections of Place at UNAM (Chicago). She has participated in group exhibitions in Colombia and the United States at venues including La Feria del Millón, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bogotá, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Krasl Art Center, Co-Prosperity, SAIC Galleries, RHAA, The Franklin, and Hyde Park Art Center. Her work is in the collection of the Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo. She is a recipient of the 2025 Re/Match Artist Award and the 2025 International Sculpture Center Innovator Award, a 2026 Fellow at The Studios at MASS MoCA, a 2023 Fellow at Vermont Studio Center, and a 2022 Luminarts Cultural Foundation finalist.
Noreña holds dual bachelor's degrees in design and fine arts, with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing, from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), where she received a merit distinction for her thesis project, You Were Here, exploring the landscape of the body through alternative portraiture. She earned an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Learn more at www.mariananorenag.com or on Instagram at @mariana.norena.g
