Mariana Noreña explores how humans relate to place through ecology, history, and mythology. Her research-driven, site-responsive practice investigates the material memory of landscapes and natural phenomena, creating echoes between geological processes and daily life. Working with earth matter and locally sourced materials, she reveals intimate and collective stories that speak to the symbiotic relationship between humans and their environment.
Mariana holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Design and Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing from La Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), for which she received a merit distinction on her thesis project “You Were Here,” which explored the landscape of the body through alternative portraiture. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Mariana’s latest solo exhibition was “Territorio Ceniza” in Murmuration (Chicago, USA). She has also exhibited “Instructions for a Walk” in Garage 04 (Karlsruhe, Germany) and “Reflections of Place” at UNAM (Chicago, USA).
Mariana has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Colombia at venues such as La Feria del Millón Art Fair, the Contemporary Museum of Art of Bogota, and SGR Gallery. In the United States, her work has also been shown at the LeRoy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University (New York City), Krasl Art Center (St Joseph, Michigan), Co-prosperity, Gallery 1922, SAIC Galleries, RHAA, The Franklin, and Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago). Her work is in the collection of the Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo. Mariana is a 2025 Re / Match Artist Award recipient and a 2025 International Sculpture Center Innovator Award recipient; she was a 2023 Fellow at the Vermont Studio Center and a 2022 Luminarts Cultural Foundation finalist.
Website: mariananorenag.com
