Natalia Mejía Murillo

Specialization

Artist

Education

• MFA, Virginia Commonwealth University, United States, 2023
• MA, History and Theory of Arts, National University of Colombia, 2018
• BFA, National University of Colombia, 2011

Biography

Natalia Mejía Murillo (b. Bogota, Colombia) is a visual artist whose work explores the notions of territory, repetition, trace and time through correspondences between astronomy, cartography and archaeology. She holds an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MA in History and Theory of Art and a BFA from the National University of Colombia.

Mejía has been the recipient of awards including the Artistic Research Fellow at Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC (2024-2025), 98th ANNUAL International Competition of The Print Center, Philadelphia (2023-2024), Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Germany (2020) and Ministry of Culture of Colombia – Mexico (FONCA) (2017). 

She has also been awarded residencies at John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 2025); Fire Station (Doha, Qatar, 2024-2025), Radio 28, (Mexico City, 2024), MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA (2023), Curatorial Program for Research (New York, 2023), Tajo Taller and Saenger Galería (Mexico City, 2023), Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, Maine (2022), Fundació Miró Mallorca and Casa de Velázquez (Spain, 2021), Fundación CIEC – Centro Internacional de la Estampa Contemporánea (Betanzos, Spain, 2014), The Strzemioski Academy of Fine Arts and Design (Łódz, Poland, 2014) among others. 

Mejía’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include Revolver Galería, New York; Smack Mellon, New York; Islera, Mexico City; The Print Center, Philadelphia; A+D Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles; Saenger Galeria, Mexico City; Museo Moralense de Arte Contemporáneo, Cuernavaca, México, Casa de Velazquez, Madrid, Spain; Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Germany, among others. She has taught at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, and is currently Assistant Professor of Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University Doha, Qatar.

Research Interests

Through sculpture, installation, and printmaking, my work resonates with questions about how we situate ourselves in the world in relation to the information and images we consume. Collecting, mapping and archiving are the actions I use to explore subtle links between the natural and the artificial, the real and the facsimile, intuition and reason. In my practice, mapping, as a process, is inventing strategies to visualize information that makes new interpretations possible. My recent research investigates the distortion of reality in cartographic depictions and how they are presented to us as accurate images of a territory; this is critical in today’s context, where technology has created a new generation of cartographers who can manipulate data into any number of visual representations. I speculate about the image of the world we build through maps, about the power relations they contain and the information they deny and hide.

Using scientific and historical references, I create spaces for reflection on the fraught relationship that exists between the cartographies of a space in relation to its reality and our understanding of it.  Through the construction of installations that explore terrestrial and celestial views, I question the stable definition of territories and representations of the past that have been considered as true in the conception of our history. With the advice of astronomers and archeologist, I’m developing work that examines the history of pre-colonial territories, as well as proposals that make visible the gap that exists between the different ways of approaching the world.

Teaching Experience

• Virginia Commonwealth University, Doha, Qatar
• Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA
• National University of Colombia, Bogota, Colombia
• Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogota, Colombia
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogota, Colombia

Exhibitions

Selected Solo/Duo Exhibitions

2024

• The Print Center, Philadelphia, USA
• DDDD Gallery, Nueva York, USA
• Islera, Mexico City (Duo show with Lucia Hinojosa)

2023

• Saenger Galería. Mexico City, Mexico.
• Museo Moralense de Arte Contemporáneo, Cuernavaca, Mexico

2022

• KOIK Contemporary Gallery (Duo show with Aida Lizalde). México City, Mexico
• Material Room (Duo show with Aida Lizalde). Richmond, USA

2021

• Doce Cero Cero Galería. Bogotá, Colombia

2017

• At.Gallery Bogotá. Bogotá, Colombia

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

• We are here. Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles, USA
• Santuaries of Fire. Galeria Revolver, New York, USA
• Spiral Time. Smack Mellon, New York, USA
• En presencia de lo Ausente. Radio 28, Mexico City, Mexico
• Hechizos en Emergencia. Mimo Gallery, New York, USA

2023

• Index Art Book Fair. Galería Kurimanzutto. Mexico City, Mexico
• Todo Mundo Art Book Fair. Feria Material. Mexico City, Mexico
• Art Week Laguna. Mexico City, Mexico
• Sadza Series. 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA, USA

2022

• Not even home will be with you forever (online) Field projects, New York, USA
• Flat Files. Collar Works. Troy, New York, USA
• 8th Biennial Footprint. Center for Contemporary Printmaking. Norwalk, USA
• 1k Art Show. Tove Gallery NYC. New York, USA
• Satellite. Page Bond Gallery. MFA Candidacy Exhibition VCU. Richmond, USA
• Casa&Co. Casa de Velázquez. Madrid, Spain
• Backbone. DePillar´s Gallery – VCU. Richmond, USA

2021

• Wanted: woodcuts. Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Germany

2019

• Salón de Arte Joven. Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation. Bogotá, Colombia 
• Salón Nacional de Artistas. Museo del Banco de la República. Bogotá, Colombia
• Artecámara. ArtBo. Bogota International Art Fair. Colombia

2018

• 16 salones regionales de artistas, zona centro. Villa de Leyva, Colombia
• Térreo. Mahanaim Foundation. Barichara, Colombia

2017

• 9 Salón de Arte Joven. Club el Nogal. Bogotá, Colombia
• 18 Biennale International de la Gravure. Ecole d`Art Janine Haddad. France. 
• Otras Naturalezas. Poliedro Gallery. Tabio, Colombia
• Feria del Millón. Centro Creativo Textura. Bogotá, Colombia

2016

• Espacios Visibles. Artemisia Foundation. Bucaramanga, Colombia

2015

• Imago Mundi. Luciano Benetton Collection.Venice, Italy

2014

• The Strzemioski Academy of Fine Arts and Design. Łódź, Poland 

2012

• XII Salón de Arte Religioso. Casa del Fundador Gonzalo Suárez. Tunja, Colombia
• Revelaciones. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia