We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro is a publication that directs dialogue and points of exchange among art, science, and environmental justice in the Americas. The project stems from the work of Los Angeles-based Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo, whose art and activism engage with issues related to water rights, land stewardship, food sovereignty, and just energy transition. 

This expansive publication features diverse artworks by Caycedo and collaborators from across the Western Hemisphere. It also highlights the research and ecological and social transition practices of more than 20 affiliated environmental organizations and social movements through poems, essays, and writing by Diana Alexandra Bernal Arias, maria campo, Carolina Caycedo, Mercedes Dorame, Megan Dorame, Carolina Duque Alzate, Arturo Escobar, Joel Garcia, Gwennhael Huesca Reyes, Camila Marambio, Hema’ny Molina Vargas, Pluma Bárbara Moreno, Daniel H. Rey, Lylian Rodriguez, Bárbara Saavedra, Bárbara Santos, Comunidades Sembradoras de Territorios, Aguas y Autonomías (SETAA), Joseph Daniel Valencia, and María Wills Londoño.

We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro accompanies an exhibition and educational platform by the same name, which is organized by the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College and is presented as part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide, an initiative of Getty. The exhibition is curated by Joseph Valencia with assistance from Nadia Estrada and Gloria Ortega, and runs from September 28, 2024 to March 1, 2025. The exhibition will travel to Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia in Bogotá from April 3 to July 21, 2025.

Carolina Caycedo is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Her practice and research focus on the future of our shared resources, ecosocial transition, and bio-cultural diversity. Her art installations, performances, videos, sculptures, and artist’s books examine complex social and environmental issues and contribute to the construction of environmental and historical memory. She has exhibited internationally and has developed publicly engaged projects in Los Angeles, Mexico City, Bogotá, San Juan, New York, London, and Paris, among others. Caycedo received a 2023 Soros Arts Fellowship and was the 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at the Getty Research Institute. She received an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California and a B.F.A. from Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá.

Joseph Daniel Valencia is Curator at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. A scholar and writer of the contemporary art and politics of the Americas, his projects include We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro (2024-2025), Sonic Terrains in Latinx Art (2022), and Liberate the Bar! Queer Nightlife, Activism, and Spacemaking (2019). He has contributed to international art journals and exhibition publications. He holds an M.A. in Curatorial Practice from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Art History and Latin American studies from California State University, Fullerton.

Steven Y. Wong is Director of the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. An artist, curator, and arts administrator in Los Angeles for over three decades, he was previously Curator at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), and Interim Executive Director and senior staff curator at the Chinese American Museum (CAM), where he developed and implemented both contemporary art and historical exhibitions. Wong has additionally held adjunct teaching positions at UC Santa Barbara, Ventura College, and Pasadena City College. He received an M.F.A in Art from UC Santa Barbara, an M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA, and a B.A. in Art from UCLA. He attended the Santa Monica College of Design, Art, and Architecture before transferring to UCLA.

Nicolás Gómez Echeverri is an artist, curator, and art historian with an art degree from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and a Master of Research in art history from Goldsmiths University in London. He is currently the Director of the Arts and Other Collections Unit for the Office of Cultural Affairs of Banco de la República, where he manages art and numismatic collections and exhibitions in the Miguel Urrutia Museum of Art, the Botero Museum, Casa de Moneda Museum, and other institutional spaces. Between 2018 and 2023 he acted as Director of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC Lima) in Lima, Peru. He regularly publishes essays and critical and historical articles on modern and contemporary Latin American art. 

Marcela Guadiana is a designer and architect from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, who currently lives in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. As an architect, her diverse portfolio includes gardens, residential and special projects, and habitats for animals native to the Baja California region. Guadiana has designed several art publications, including: Tijuana Sessions (ARCO05, Madrid), Strange New World (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego), Las Implicaciones De La Imagen (The Isabel & Agustín Coppel Collection), Existe Lo Que Tiene Nombre - Contemporary Photography in Mexico (San Francisco Camerawork), Restauración de una Pintura Mural by Tercerunquinto and El Narciso de Jesús by Ray Smith (Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros), and Them and Us/Ellos y Nosotros by Marcos Ramírez ERRE (el Colegio de la Frontera Norte and MASS MoCA), which received the 2022 Antonio García Cubas award in Mexico.

The mission of the Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) at East Los Angeles College is to serve as a unique educational resource for the diverse audiences of the college and the community through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media of the visual arts.

Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia (MAMU) is a space dedicated to the free exhibition of Colombian, Latin-American, and International artwork from Banco de la República’s permanent collection, fostering dialogue between Colombian and international arts throughout art history. The museum also contains two large galleries, where they host visiting temporary exhibitions.