Carlos Garaicoa 'Armero City'
Museo La Tertulia. 07/16/2026 - 09/06/2026
Carlos Garaicoa. From the series Ciudad de Armero, 2021. Acrylic, pyrography, and printed photograph on bone mounted on birch wood. 39.37 × 31.89 in. Courtesy of Estudio Carlos Garaicoa
Museo La Tertulia presents ‘Ciudad Armero’ by Carlos Garaicoa. The exhibition features paintings and photographs that explore new ways of remembering the tragedy of Armero. The exhibition will be on view until September 5, 2026.
Four decades after the avalanche that buried the town of Armero in Tolima, Colombia, following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in November 1985—a tragedy that claimed more than 20,000 lives—Carlos Garaicoa explains: “A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the ruins of the city and its landscape of houses buried in mud, which has given way to a vibrant nature that is unaware of the tragic history of the place. This visit and its surroundings deeply impacted me and inspired a photographic series I decided to develop with other themes. In this new series of paintings and photographs, I aim to delve into that symbiosis between architecture and nature that undoubtedly defines Armero. The traces of its inhabitants and the remnants of lives abruptly cut short, as well as heartfelt messages from family and friends, are an intrinsic part of this new body of work, which pays tribute to those who died in this tragedy. Parts of the human anatomy coexist with fragments of the architecture and flora of the area, giving rise to these vignettes that illustrate and document my approach to this site and the interconnectedness that resides in collective memory.”
The exhibition invites viewers to look beyond the images capturing the catastrophe and to understand memory as an ever-evolving process. Curated by Óscar Roldán-Alzate, the exhibition moves away from a documentary representation of the disaster to create a visual language where architecture, the body, and the land interact as traces of a memory that continues to transform. The exhibition encourages reflection on how art dialogues with collective memory and redefines spaces marked by loss. ‘Ciudad Armero’ offers a contemporary perspective on one of the most painful and media-covered events in recent Colombian history.
This exhibition is supported by the Embassy of Colombia in Spain, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Cultural and Scientific Office of the Embassy of Spain in Colombia, mor charpentier, and Estudio Carlos Garaicoa.
Four decades after the avalanche that buried the town of Armero in Tolima, Colombia, following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in November 1985—a tragedy that claimed more than 20,000 lives—Carlos Garaicoa explains: “A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the ruins of the city and its landscape of houses buried in mud, which has given way to a vibrant nature that is unaware of the tragic history of the place. This visit and its surroundings deeply impacted me and inspired a photographic series I decided to develop with other themes. In this new series of paintings and photographs, I aim to delve into that symbiosis between architecture and nature that undoubtedly defines Armero. The traces of its inhabitants and the remnants of lives abruptly cut short, as well as heartfelt messages from family and friends, are an intrinsic part of this new body of work, which pays tribute to those who died in this tragedy. Parts of the human anatomy coexist with fragments of the architecture and flora of the area, giving rise to these vignettes that illustrate and document my approach to this site and the interconnectedness that resides in collective memory.”
The exhibition invites viewers to look beyond the images capturing the catastrophe and to understand memory as an ever-evolving process. Curated by Óscar Roldán-Alzate, the exhibition moves away from a documentary representation of the disaster to create a visual language where architecture, the body, and the land interact as traces of a memory that continues to transform. The exhibition encourages reflection on how art dialogues with collective memory and redefines spaces marked by loss. ‘Ciudad Armero’ offers a contemporary perspective on one of the most painful and media-covered events in recent Colombian history.
This exhibition is supported by the Embassy of Colombia in Spain, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Cultural and Scientific Office of the Embassy of Spain in Colombia, mor charpentier, and Estudio Carlos Garaicoa.
Carlos Garaicoa. From the series Ciudad de Armero, 2021. Acrylic, pyrography, and printed photograph on bone mounted on birch wood. 39.37 × 31.89 in. Courtesy of Estudio Carlos Garaicoa
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