Maria Isabel Arango’s research-led work interrogates relationships between history, memory and evidence, focusing on how narratives are constructed and manipulated. Institutional and poetic languages are her media. Through text, performance and installation, and relying on the participation of performers and audiences, the artist engages with archival materials (books, photos, videos, public records), strips them of context and rearranges them into works which convey the semantic plasticity of cultural artifacts and data, putting pressure on the fragile bonds between language and meaning.

Recent solo exhibitions: Viendo Voces, Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City (2022); XI Premio Luis Caballero, MAMU, Bogotá (2022). Group shows: REVER, Aarea and Galería Santa Fé, Brazil/Colombia (2021); Sobre Paisajes y Premoniciones, MAMM (2019); Esta lengua que no es mía, Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá (2019); Casas Riegner Gallery – La Oficina del Doctor, Bogotá (2018); Centre d’art Contemporain Passerelle, France (2017). Recent grants: Malt Air, Denmark (2022-23); Artist Residency Schloss Balmoral (2020-21).

Arango gained her MA (2008) and was awarded a PhD in Art Practice (2015), both from the University of the Arts London, UK.