Artists

Delcy Morelos

Press release

Colombian artist Delcy Morelos explores our relationship with the earth in a monumental, site-specific installation made of soil, clay and fragrant spices. You are invited to step inside origo, roam its tunnels, experience its shifting light, rest within its central patio and become a part of its ecosystem. origo, meaning ‘origin’ in Latin, is inspired by ancestral Andean and Amazonian knowledge. Its multisensory, immersive environments invite us to convene with soil – the material which sustains all life – and to experience its power. Responding to the origins of the Barbican, a utopic project for communal living that centres the human experience, origo celebrates what Morelos calls ‘the delicate and powerful web of existence’, inviting us to think, feel and connect with the earth. This 24-metre-wide commission is Morelos' most ambitious outdoor work to date and her first major presentation in the UK. It marks the return of artwork to our Sculpture Court for the first time in 10 years. About Delcy Morelos Born in 1967 in Tierralta in the region of Córdoba in Colombia, Delcy Morelos studied at the Cartagena School of Fine Arts. She lives and works in Bogotá. Solo exhibitions include Profundis, CAAC Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain (2024); Interwoven, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2024); El Abrazo, Dia Chelsea, New York (2023); El lugar del alma, Museo Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Enie, Fundación NC-Arte, Bogotá (2018); Inner Earth, Röda Sten Konsthall, Göteborg, Sweden (2018). Morelos was awarded the Pérez Prize in Public Art & Civic Design (2024) and the ARTnews Awards Established Artist of the Year (2024).