María Evelia Marmolejo was one of the most radical performance artists to emerge in the 1980s in Latin America.

Marmolejo began producing political and feminist performative works in the late 1970s in Cali, Colombia. In her work, the female body plays a powerful role in addressing socio-political issues pertinent to both Latin America and the wider world.

Her work has been shown both inside and outside of the art institution, often in secluded locations away from the public view, in public places with or without the authorities’ consent, or in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art Bogota, the Museum of Modern Art Cartagena, and the Contemporary Art Museum Guayaquil.

Conferences in which Marmolejo has participated include History of Contemporary Art in Latin America, Central Universidad Quito and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Gallery of Guayaquil, Ecuador; The History of Pre-Colombian Performance Art to the Present Day, the State Institute of Fine Arts Cali, Colombia; Poisoning Pachamama, Plan Colombia, York College, New York; and International Interests Behind Illicit Crops, York College, New York. 

Her work has been published through research projects such as Re.Act.Feminism, a performance archive based in Berlin, and in articles in international publications such us Art Nexus and Arte y Crítica. Marmolejo’s work will be on view in the context of the historical exhibition “The Political Body: Radical Women in Latin American Art: 1960-1985”, curated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and Andrea Giunta. 

María Evelia Marmolejo is a New York-based Colombian artist and holds a Master of Arts in Humanities from the City University of New York.