Art as a Collaborator of the Environment
by Natalia María Centeno López
“This series is titled ‘Art as a Collaborator of the Environment: The Landscape and Its Symbols and the Theoretical-Visual Mapping as a Tool for Exchanging Knowledge about Ecosystem Transformations.’ This piece examines my artistic and pedagogical practices that intertwine multiple media, including painting, ceramics, photography, and installation art, to explore the complex relationships between environmental and social issues.
The article delves into the concept of the landscape as an evolving, symbolic entity that communicates ecological transformation. Through visual storytelling and community-based methodologies, I document and interpret symbols within natural environments—such as bioindicators like lilies in polluted rivers—as a way to reveal deeper ecological narratives. My work focuses on a "sacrifice zones" in Mexico, impacted by industrialization, areas where the lives of both human and non-human inhabitants are at risk. By engaging in interdisciplinary research and dialogic knowledge exchange, I aim to foster awareness and collective action toward more sustainable interactions with our ecosystems.”
Natalia María Centeno López, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, is a visual artist, art historian, and educator. She studied Art History at the University of Puerto Rico and Visual Arts at the Puerto Rico School of Visual Arts and Design. She pursued postgraduate studies in Research and Production in Visual Arts at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her work, exhibited in Mexico and Puerto Rico, focuses on narrating stories about ecosystem transformations. In addition to her artistic practice, Natalia works as an educator in Puerto Rico, promoting community engagement in art projects. She also serves as the Education Manager at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, where in the past year, she has concentrated on the conceptualization of pedagogical content, the design of educational programs aligned with exhibitions, and the development of learning tools or activities for people with functional diversity.
