Carmen Valenzuela Ch.
b. 1995, Guatemala | Lives and works in Antigua Guatemala
Carmen Valenzuela Ch. is a Guatemalan visual artist and researcher. Her practice explores the relationships between matter, ecology, and forms of coexistence beyond extractivism. Through experimentation with biomaterials, natural fibers, and traditional dyes, she investigates how processes of transformation, repair, and regeneration can become ways of thinking about and relating to the world.
She works primarily with eggshell bioceramics, natural fibers, and pigments such as indigo, cochineal, and palo de vida. Her process begins with the collection, transformation, and reformulation of materials, approaching making as a practice of attention, care, and reciprocity. From this perspective, matter is not a passive support but an active participant in research and meaning-making.
She holds a degree in Industrial Design, an M.A. in Design for Change from the University of Edinburgh, and an MSc. in Green Economy from Bournemouth University. Her work has been presented in Guatemala, El Salvador, Slovakia, and New York, including the Creative Climate Awards by the Human Impacts Institute, where she was selected as an Artivism Fellow in 2024. In 2026, she received third place at Galería Abierta by the Centro Cultural Municipal in Guatemala City.
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“We live […] in a mesh of interwoven lines, where the lines of life, growth, and movement become entangled.” (Ingold, 2011, p. 63, my translation)
My artistic practice emerges from a concern with how we inhabit the planet and the distance between sustainability discourse and the actions that shape our relationship with natural systems. In response to an extractive model that understands nature as a resource, I explore forms of coexistence based on interdependence and regeneration. In this pursuit, I engage with Anna Tsing’s understanding of the world as a network of interdependencies between humans and other forms of life. From this perspective, artistic experience becomes a space for reconfiguring our perception of these relationships; I am not interested in illustrating collapse, but in training the imagination to recognize that other forms of coexistence are possible.
My work takes the form of objects, installations, and 2D compositions that function as material testimonies of other ways of inhabiting the world. Rather than representing futures, I seek to create conditions for imagining regenerative relationships between humans, ecosystems, and matter. My works operate as devices for observing the present from viable futures, shifting away from Anthropocene narratives centered on crisis toward scenarios of collaboration. Here, I find an affinity with Julian Bleecker’s understanding of objects as mediators between imagination, knowledge, and experience.
My practice investigates forms of coexistence that take shape across different bodies of work. One of these investigations develops through the series Devices for Trajectories into the Future (2025–), where sculptures and installations constructed from bioceramic modules joined by thread and cotton fabric explore relationships between fragility, resilience, and transformation.
I work with biomaterials such as eggshell bioceramics, cotton thread, and natural pigments, which can safely return to biological cycles. Their selection responds to their physical qualities, my interest in circular economy, and an understanding of matter, informed by Jane Bennett’s new materialism, as an active participant in the production of meaning rather than an inert support. In this way, matter becomes a means of exploring new interspecies relationships.
Solo Exhibions
Impending Shift: a glance to exploration, Fragmentum Gallery, Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
2025
S.O.S Vetiver, Palacio de los Capitanes, Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala (Duo exhibition) - Sponsored by Carlos F. Novella Foundation
2020
Collective Exhibions
2026
Upcycling Art Guatemala, Rotary club Reforma. Alianza Francesa Guatemala, Guatemala City
Colectiva Julio-Agosto 2026, Fundación Rozas-Botran, Guatemala City
Arte en Mayo 2026, Fundación Rozas-Botran, Guatemala City
Galería abierta, Centro Cultural Municipal, Guatemala City.
Liminal Sensitivo : Tonalidades Transitorias, Fragmentum Gallery & Olga Reiche (Indigo), Antigua Guatemala
Weave the Wave: Material Agencies in motion, FX Gallery and the Central Slovak Gallery, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
2025
Pequeño formato, Museo Forma, San Salvador, El Salvador
Curated Collection, Fragmentum Gallery, Antigua Guatemala - Side event Guatemalan Art Bienal (BAP24)
2024
Creative Climate Awards, Human Impact Insitute (HII), Dumbo, New York
Education
2025 - Diploma in New Economies - Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
2022 - MSc. in Green Economy - Bournemouth University, UK
2020 - M.A. in Design for Change - The University of Edinburgh, UK
2018 - Licentiate degree in Industrial Design - Universidad Rafael Landivar, Guatemala
2009-2015 - Oil painting - Galeria Rios, Guatemala
Residencies. Fellowships & Awards
2024 - Fellow - Artivism & Amplifiers Program – Human Impacts Institute, NYC
2026 - Residency - Art and resistance at La Revuelta arte - Guatemala City.
2026 -Third place - Galería Abierta by El Centro Cultural Municipal - Guatemala City.
2020 - Finalist – Iberoamerican Design Biennale – Madrid, Spain
Publications
2025
Igniting the Impending Shift (artist’s book) - Editorial Peluma, Guatemala
Explorando lo Posible: Cinco Educadores Centroamericanos Integran Cambio Inminente a sus Espacios Académicos de Diseño - Magazine Cosecha #4, Plataforma de Introducción a las Nuevas Economías, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
Press
2025
Selected Professional Experience
Founder of Hablemos de Futuros (climate innovation studio)
2021 – Present - hablemosdefuturos.eco
Developing accredited Carbon Literacy courses and co-creating environmental educational tools with rural communities.
Co-founder & Design Lead of VCH Studio
2017 – Present - vchstudio.com
Delivering design projects for UNICEF, UNDP, Clinton Health Access Initiative,Transform Health, other third sector organisations focusing on sustainability and social impact.
Lecturer in Design and Sustainability and Service Design
2020 – Present - Universidad Rafael Landívar (Guatemala) & Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (El Salvador)
Curriculum design of multiple courses, for undergrad and postgrad, that integrates sustainability, systems, behavioral economics, and green transition into design programs.