Cecilia Paredes

Cecilia Paredes (Peruvian, b.1950) was born in Lima, Peru, where she studied Plastic Arts at the Catholic University of Lima.

She later went on to study at Cambridge Arts and Crafts School in England.

She was awarded the Publicacin Libro de Artista by the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain, the First Mention of Honor at the Bienal Centroamericana, as well as first prizes at the Salon Nacional de Grabado, the Salon Nacional de Grabado in Lima, the Municipalidad de Lima for serigraphy, and finally the Universidad Católica in Peru for theatre/lithography.

Paredes completed residencies at both Pennsylvania University and the Banff Art Centre in Canada.

She is a contemporary performance and installation artist, who is best known for her unusual work in which she uses her own body as a canvas for body paint. Her last name, Paredes, which means walls in Spanish, perfectly suits her fascination with turning herself into a human chameleon and melting herself into the walls.

One of her most acclaimed series is her Landscapes, a floral series in which she is painted to match floral-patterned wallpapers; her hair, and sometimes an ear, is often the only indication that a person is in the image.

Paredes has also transformed herself into animals, plants, or her surroundings by using body paints, which are applied to her body by her assistants.

The idea behind her work is to display a theme of relocation and adjustment to one's surroundings, especially after migration or displacement. With her striking and though-provoking pieces, she aims to illustrate every person's quest to belong. She will open solo exhibition at the Museum of the University of Navarra (MUN) in Spain on March 27, 2019.