Carmen Valenzuela Ch.
b. 1995, Guatemala | Lives and works in Antigua Guatemala
Carmen Valenzuela Ch. is a visual artist, multidisciplinary designer, and researcher based in Antigua Guatemala. Her practice unfolds at the intersection of material experimentation, sustainability, and the imagination of futures beyond extractivism. Guided by new materialism and Guatemalan place-based knowledge, she explores how matter can act as a collaborator in processes of repair and regeneration.
Working primarily with eggshell bioceramics, natural fibres, and traditional dyes such as indigo, cochinilla, and palo de vida, her work transforms fragility into resilience while positioning circularity as a relational act between materials, communities, and ecosystems. Through her process, which involves collection, grinding, reforming, and dyeing. She treats making as a ritual of care and reciprocity, where each gesture embodies a way of reconciling with the environment.
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 exhibited in Slovakia, Guatemala, Madrid, El Salvador and New York, including the 20th Madrid Design Biennial and the Creative Climate Awards by the Human Impacts Institute, where she was selected as an Artivism Fellow in 2024.
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Devices for futures trajectory
These devices function as intermediary media, allowing us to observe the future from the present, like material mirrors where imagination, science, and the desire for change converge. From figures that generate tension, both visual and physical, through accumulation, rhythm, and cycles, solid and modular blocks emerge, exploring the chromatic field, continuity, and the physical record of the dialogue between body and matter.
Each object is suspended in time through ties and amalgamations, playing with solid and soft materials to create a conversation of textures, balances and imbalances, solids and fluids—all trapped in time. These configurations function as symbolic structures that condense processes of transformation and resistance, revealing the relationship between what is held and what is allowed to flow, creating an aesthetic of interdependence.
With the intention of constructing trajectories toward desirable futures, the objects materialize the existential human desire to remain part of the planet's biological fabric. They allow for the exploration of a future anthropology and an inverted engineering based on the transformation of materials within a visual logic of sustainability that respects planetary boundaries.
This practice is grounded in experimentation with biomaterials such as eggshell bioceramics, cotton thread, and natural pigments (cochineal, palo de vida, indigo), all belonging to the biological cycle of the circular economy and capable of returning to the earth. Furthermore, from a perspective of new materialism and practice-based research, these materials are treated not as passive resources, but as active agents of meaning and collaboration.
The devices for a trajectory toward the future are not merely objects, but poetic and technical propositions that seek to explore new forms of coexistence between humans, materials, and ecosystems.
Solo Exhibions
Impending Shift: a glance to explorationFragmentum 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
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
2020
20th Iberoamerican Design Biennale, Madrid, Spain
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
Fellowships & Awards
2024 - Fellow - Artivism & Amplifiers Program – Human Impacts Institute, NYC
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.
Arte en Mayo 2026, Rozas-Botran, Guatemala City (upcoming May 2026)
2026
Liminal Sensitivo : Tonalidades Transitorias, Fragmentum Gallery & Olga Reiche (Indigo), Antigua Guatemala