February to March 2025
Yorleny Cardozo Peña is an artist and art educator from San Agustín, Colombia. In the project “Protective Beings – The Superpowers of Nature”, she aims to sustainably convey ecological awareness to children in Berlin and Colombia. A central aspect of her research is the development of methods to empower children not to feel powerless against climate change and species extinction, but to strengthen their own “superpowers”.
As part of the CoMuse Fellowship, Yorleny Cardozo Peña is developing a school workshop in the form of an artistic research laboratory. Participants will learn how diverse habitats and their creatures can be, how they shape cultural identity and how dependent we are on each other. Yorleny Cardozo Peña is also designing an artistic intervention to bring San Agustín into the exhibition at the Humboldt Forum as a panorama. Yorleny Cardozo Peña on this:
The statues made of volcanic rock in the San Agustín Archaeological Park bear animal features such as claws, fangs, or wings. They not only represent the characteristics of nature, but also reflect its strength, protection, and power. The realisation of the magnificence in living beings has stayed with me, and I have started to collect insects, seeds, and leaves from the forest where the statues live. In my work, science and artistic associations go hand in hand. The workshop raises awareness for environmental protection, the preservation of cultural heritage and the importance of protecting forests as a complex ecosystem.
Yorleny Cardozo Peña completed her Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the Universidad del Cauca in 2012. She is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Cultural Management and Museology and works as a mediator at the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH). In her work she traces the collective memory of the communities around Pitalito, capturing people, cultures, and their relationships with plants and animals through drawings and paintings, in nature and while travelling.
Collaborative project of the education and outreach department between the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) and the Ethnologisches Museum.
This fellowship is supported by Künstlerhaus Bethanien, which provides a studio for artistic and scientific research.