We Place Life at the Center: Situamos La Vida en el Centro
09/28/2024 - 03/02/2025
For more than ten years, Los Angeles-based Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo highlighted the negative effects of extractive development on land, water, and the vibrant ecologies bound to them. Her work asks us: how can we transition to new energy systems and make paradigm shifts that prioritize a more balanced and respectful stewardship of the Earth?
We Place Life at the Center is an exhibition, publication, and educational platform that aims to address these central questions, fostering dialogues around art, science, and environmental justice in Los Angeles and across the Americas. Building upon four years of research and fieldwork in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the project highlights diverse struggles and promotes alternatives to the global climate crisis rooted in ecofeminism and environmental justice.
Presented across two floors of the museum’s galleries, the exhibition assembles new works by Caycedo alongside artworks from artists and environmental movements within her network. We see the exhibition not merely as a showcase of one artist’s work but as a visualization of research and affinities that provide a dynamic space for learning, solidarity, and action across communities and geographies.
We Place Life at the Center Exhibition Overview
Joseph Valencia, Curator at VPAM and artist Carolina Caycedo discuss the exhibition.
EVENTS
IN THE NEWS
INSTALLATION IMAGES
PRESS INFORMATION
PUBLICATIONS
WE PLACE LIFE AT THE CENTER/
SITUAMOS LA VIDA EN EL CENTRO
Co-published in 2025 with Vincent Price Art Museum as part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide, presented by Getty, and supported by Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia, Banco de la Republic, Colombia.
Acknowledgements
We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro is organized by the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. The exhibition is curated by Joseph Daniel Valencia with the assistance of Nadia Estrada and Gloria Ortega.
We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro is among more than 70 exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.artMajor support for the exhibition is provided by generous grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, and the Ford Foundation.
We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro participated in the PST ART Climate Impact Program, a groundbreaking integration of climate action, community building, and data reporting as part of Getty’s landmark recurring arts event. The Vincent Price Art Museum tracked carbon emissions from exhibition travel and artwork shipping and developed programs to build community around climate action. Examples of specific climate initiatives integrated into the project include an ecological balancing program aimed at providing unrestricted funding to support the work of Indigenous and environmental justice organizations within our region. Information about the PST ART Climate Impact Program can be found at pst.art/climate
Additional support for this project is provided through a grant from the Mellon Foundation. This project is also supported by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture as part of Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan
All exhibitions at the Vincent Price Art Museum are underwritten by the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation and East Los Angeles College.