María Amilbia Siagama Siagama

Maria Amilbia Siagama Siagama’s practice centres around her own cultural community, the Embera. Indigenous to Colombia, Embera culture depends on an ecological symbiosis, frequently utlising plants both pictorially and medicinally. Evoking this, Siagama Siagama works with Jagua ink, created from the pulp of the roots of the Jenipapo tree, and creates expressive drawings of geometric patterns or floral motifs. The artist also engages with the Embera tradition of body paint, a practice which serves as a mode for representing the world. Conflict in Colombia has caused a large displacement among the Embera people, and, through her art and political activism, Siagama Siagama acts as a cultural guardian to her native community.

Born in 1969, Siagama Siagama lives and works in Minitas, Risaralda, Colombia. In 2012, the artist met Karen Paulina Biswell, an artist also engaged with the Embera community, whereupon they began a long standing artistic and political collaboration. Her exhibitions include, among others: El sol y la luna, Instituto de Visión, Bogotá (2021); Arte vivo, Claustro de las aguas, Bogotá (2022). The artist’s work has also been exhibited in Düsseldorf.