Biography 

Constanza Camelo Suárez (b. 1970, Bogotá) 

Constanza Eugenia Camelo Suárez is a Colombian experimental and performance artist, independent curator, and academic based in Chicoutimi, Québec. Constanza holds a PhD in Arts Studies and Practices from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2006), a Master’s degree in Visual Arts (Université Laval, Québec, 1997) and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá, 1993). She is a Fine Arts Professor at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Constanza is a co-founder of We are not Speedy Gonzales, a collective of migrant artists that work within interculturality and its representations in the art world, and the vice-president of the artist-run centre Le Lobe (Saguenay, Québec). As an independent curator, she established cultural and artistic exchange initiatives between Canada and Latin America. She is a member of CELAT (Centre de recherche Cultures – Arts – Sociétés) and co-chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in the Transmission of First Peoples’ Culture to Foster Well-Being and Empowerment.

Constanza Camelo’s work surrounds the creation, theorization and dissemination of experimental art in general, and of in-situ performance art in particular, within the contexts of human displacement and bodies in transit. Her work has been featured in the solo exhibition La Deriva a Ciegas (Galería Valenzuela Klenner, Bogotá, Colombia, 2018). Constanza's performances include Res Publica (FIAC – Festival de performances, Paris, 2017); Chutes / Caídas (We Are Not Speedy Gonzalez Collective, FOFA Gallery, Montréal, 2014); Dilater ou contracter l’univers (Montréal, 2008-2013); Best time killer (Stanley Park, Toronto, 2003); L’amour aveugle (co-presented with James Partaik, II Festival Art Action FA3, Cinema L’Amour, Montréal, 2000); and Fesses de faire  (I Festival Art Action FA3, Tangente, Montréal, 1999), among many others. Her work has been featured in the collective exhibitions Frecuencia e Intensidad  (curated by Emilio Tarazona, Galería Valenzuela Klenner, Bogotá, Colombia, 2014) and La survivance : La demeure (Galerie Optica, Montréal, 2002).