Olga de Amaral
Ann Coxon and María Wills Londoño
Olga de Amaral is an emblematic figure of the Colombian art scene and of Fiber Art. Unclassifiable, her work borrows as much from Modernist principles, as from her cultural heritage and traditional Colombian weaving techniques. A contemporary of Magdalena Abakanowicz and Sheila Hicks, she participated in the revolution of Fiber Art in the 1960s and 1970s.
Amaral’s hand-woven works combine natural fibres, paint, plaster and precious metals, and reflect her interest in architecture and geometry. While her early works featured geometric motifs and bright colours, those of the 1970s marked the start of her research on three-dimensionality, with works that free themselves from the wall to invade space. She then returned to a more human and intimate scale, with colours inspired by Colombian landscapes.
From October 2024 to March 2025, the Fondation Cartier unveils the full richness and power of Amaral’s art in her first major retrospective in Europe. Bringing together historical works never presented outside Colombia, as well as contemporary pieces with vibrant shapes and colours, the exhibition highlights the artist’s career-long experimentation with materials, scale, and three-dimensionality.
Ann Coxon is Curator of International Art at Tate Modern, London. She has a long-standing interest and specialism in textile-based practices. Coxon curated the exhibition Magdalena Abakanowicz at Tate Modern in 2022, which traveled to the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland and the Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden, Norway in 2023. She has curated numerous exhibitions and displays at Tate Modern, including Dorothea Tanning (2019), Anni Albers (2018), Beyond Craft (2017), Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture (2015), and Saloua Raouda Choucair (2013). She has published two books: Motherhood (London: Tate Publishing, 2023) and Louise Bourgeois (London: Tate Publishing, 2010) and is currently writing a PhD thesis on textile art in Europe from 1960 to 1979.
María Wills Londoño is a Colombian art researcher and curator. Her major exhibition projects offer reflections on the unstable condition of the contemporary image and alternative views of urban themes in Latin America. She is head of the department of arts (museums and collections) of the Banco de la República in Bogotá since 2020. She curated several exhibitions across the world, including Urbes Mutantes (Museo de arte del Banco de la República, Bogota, 2013 / International Center of Photography, New York, 2014), Latin Fire. Otras fotografías de un continente (CentroCentro, Madrid, 2015), Fernell Franco Cali Clair-Obscur (Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris / Centro de la Imagen, Mexico, 2016), The Life of Things (Momenta Biennale de l’image, Montreal, 2019), and Sembrar la duda: indicios sobre las representaciones indígenas en Colombia (Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia – MAMU, Bogotá, 2023). She is the author of The Four Evangelists: Consolidation Process of Exhibition Curating in Colombia (Barcelona: Editorial Planeta) published in 2018.
Marie Perennès is curator at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris.
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