Sabanalarga, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barcelona, España

Orígenes A Visual Ritual of Return to Origin

To speak of Synesthesia is to speak of light, sound, memory, and technology in service of transformative art. Behind the name stands Tuty Navarro, a Colombian visual artist and designer with over a decade of experience crafting immersive worlds where digital art merges with ancestral wisdom.

Celebrated for her psychedelic, symbolic, and futuristic visual language, Synesthesia has collaborated with international artists such as Nicola Cruz, Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, Claptone, and C. Tangana, and has shown her work at renowned festivals including Sónar, Estéreo Picnic, and RAW Tempel in Berlin. Breaking away from traditional VJ aesthetics, her art redefines the visual experience in Latin American electronic culture.

For SALC2025, Synesthesia appears as the central artist for Vivance Art, presenting her most intimate and powerful work to date: “Orígenes” a multisensory installation inspired by a visionary Yagé ceremony. Orígenes is a visual and sonic portal weaving together sacred geometry, Amazonian landscapes, and the fractals of consciousness. It reclaims Indigenous narratives through a contemporary, immersive, and technopoetic lens.

From a curatorial perspective, Orígenes stands at the intersection of postcolonial art, spirituality, memory, and digital innovation. Its aesthetic invites not only to be viewed, but deeply felt. It is an invocation an immersive ritual that reconnects us with origin, identity, and land.

In a hyperconnected yet dislocated world, Synesthesia offers an experience of deep reconnection: art as ritual, technology as bridge, and ancestral memory as a catalyst for the future.

Sahagún, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Rafael Barón is a Colombian visual artist and educator born in Barranquilla. He holds a degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad del Atlántico and a degree in Anthropology from the Universidad de Antioquia. His practice focuses on the transformation of memory through symbolic language, creating intimate and often dreamlike environments. Barón’s work involves the interplay of painting, installation, and found objects to evoke narratives of nostalgia, identity, and the emotional weight of materials. His exhibitions span Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, and other Latin American countries, and he has also worked as a curator, teacher, and cultural promoter in the Caribbean region.

Caracas, Venezuela

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Patricia Quevedo is a Colombian visual artist based in Barranquilla, with over 20 years of continuous experience in artistic creation. Her work is rooted in chromatic and geometric surfaces, often rendered in three-dimensional forms. Deeply influenced by kinetic artists such as Jesús Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez whom she studied from an early age during museum visits in Venezuela her practice reflects a profound engagement with visual perception and rhythmic composition.

Her canvases and cubes are characterized by the juxtaposition and superimposition of basic geometric shapes squares, rectangles, and triangles creating dynamic illusions of space and movement. Repetition, order, and rhythm are central to her process, with lines and colors interacting to produce visual oscillations that stimulate perception.

In recent works, Quevedo explores the world of video games, incorporating curved and distorted grids, convex and concave forms, and vibrant palettes. Her compositions evoke narratives of teamwork, empathy, and conflict resolution, using abstraction as a playful and meaningful language. She invites viewers to “play” her canvases, challenging them to decipher hidden logics and meanings within the visual field.

Barranquilla, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Mónica Urquijo is a distinguished Colombian textile designer and entrepreneur from Barranquilla.

With a deep appreciation for natural fibers and traditional craftsmanship, she founded Textiles Mónica Urquijo, focusing on creating handmade designs that blend indigenous materials with contemporary aesthetics. Her commitment to social entrepreneurship led her to establish Arte Sana, an association that has empowered over 300 female artisans in the Atlántico region by providing sustainable employment opportunities. Urquijo’s innovative approach and dedication to community development earned her the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award by Dinero magazine and the Schwab Foundation in 2006. Her creations have garnered international acclaim, notably being featured by renowned brands like Ralph Lauren.

Barranquilla, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Julián García is a Colombian visual artist whose work delves into human connections and personal memories through stylized figures and reimagined everyday objects. Initially immersed in music—surrounded by instruments like the piano, drums, guitar, and bass—his creative path shifted when he moved to Europe. There, inspired by the continent’s cultural diversity, García discovered painting as a powerful medium to express his inner world.

Upon returning to Colombia, he embarked on a self-taught artistic journey, translating the images and emotions from his memories into visual form. Central to his work are slender, stylized figures inspired by his father and scenes from his childhood: moments of family life, play, and musical connection. His compositions blend personal nostalgia with a broader reflection on human interaction, aiming to create a universal resonance through intimate storytelling.

García’s practice embraces a variety of mediums and materials, ranging from canvas painting to marble sculpture, often incorporating playful elements like Legos. These contrasting materials and motifs allow him to explore themes of identity, memory, and interdependence, bridging the nostalgic and the contemporary.

His work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions across Colombia, including events like Lefebre Subastas. He also pursued partial studies at the Escuela Distrital de Artes in Barranquilla, complementing his largely self-directed development. Currently based in Barranquilla, García continues to evolve his artistic practice, balancing conceptual exploration with a commercial sensibility, and seeking opportunities to share his vision internationally.

At the core of García’s artistic statement is a fascination with how human relationships form invisible structures that shape our lives. His figures act as metaphors for social bonds, family ties, and everyday exchanges, building narratives that are both deeply personal and widely relatable. Through a careful interplay of color, form, and composition, he invites viewers to project their own memories and interpretations onto his work, fostering a unique and personal dialogue between the artwork and its audience.

Barranquilla, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Federico Lobo Hernández is a visual artist working primarily in painting, drawing, and printmaking.

His practice revolves around expressions of childhood memories and emotional landscapes, where colors, music, and everyday life converge in intuitive compositions. His paintings often begin with playful stains, developing into realistic forms that echo emotional and collective memory.

Through the fusion of color, light, and gesture, Lobo seeks to evoke expressions that resonate with the viewer’s own experience. His artistic process is fluid, allowing instinct and emotion to guide the formation of each work.

His solo exhibitions include shows at Galería La Aduana (2023), Alianza Francesa de Barranquilla (2022), and La Interface (2021). His work has also been featured in collective exhibitions across Colombia, including Bogotá, Medellín, Santa Marta, and Barranquilla, as well as international events such as the XI International Biennial of Art in Suba (2019).

Barranquilla, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Jair Galindo is a visual artist whose academic training was completed at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Universidad del Atlántico. His thesis project was selected for the XIII Regional Salon of Caribbean Artists, for which he received the highest honors.

Galindo specializes in drawing, using a distinctive and unconventional technique where the traditional pencil is replaced by a precision cutter or scalpel. Drawing directly from light, his work reveals unseen narratives and transforms absence into presence.

A keen observer of his surroundings, Galindo uses drawing as a medium to visually render the invisible. His high-contrast compositions invite viewers to engage in contemplation and initiate a dialogue with the image. His intention is to open interpretive spaces in which observers form their own reflections, often anchored in memory and personal experience. His work has gained recognition in numerous exhibitions at local, regional, national, and international levels, positioning him as a significant voice in contemporary drawing.

Bogotá, Colombia

Lives and works in: Paris, France

Sergio Bonilla is a Colombian artist born in Bogotá, currently based in Paris. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the National University of Colombia and is completing a Master’s in Contemporary Art at Université Paris VIII. Bonilla’s work delves into queer identity, sexuality, and desire, drawing inspiration from figures like Tom of Finland, Paul Preciado, and Deleuze. His paintings and drawings are provocative and intensely physical, featuring hybrid bodies and deviant fantasies that challenge heteronormative narratives. His exhibitions have taken place in Colombia, France, and Spain, including the FIG Bilbao fair, where he was awarded Best Young Artist and Best

Pavilion in 2022.

Barranquilla, Colombia

Lives and works in: Barranquilla, Colombia

Alex de la Torre Carbonell is a visual artist and painter whose work navigates the boundaries between realism and conceptual expression. A graduate of the Universidad del Atlántico’s Faculty of Fine Arts, his award-winning thesis project, Dinero, earned him academic distinction.

De la Torre’s work frequently engages with socio-political themes through layered compositions, often incorporating symbolic elements to challenge viewers’ perceptions. His long-standing commitment to artistic experimentation has led him to exhibit extensively in Colombia and abroad, with solo shows in institutions like Galería La Aduana and the Colombian Consulate in New York.

He has participated in over 40 group exhibitions across major cities including Bogotá, Medellín, Miami, Cartagena, and Caracas, and has been recognized with multiple awards, including first prize in the Salón Distrital de Artes (2017, 2019), and the Young Artists Chevrolet Prize (2008).

His contributions have helped shape the contemporary art landscape of the Caribbean region, both through his individual work and participation in influential collective shows.