For more than ten years, Los Angeles-based Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo highlighted the negative effects of extractive development on land, water, and the vibrant ecologies bound to them. Her work asks us: how can we transition to new energy systems and make paradigm shifts that prioritize a more balanced and respectful stewardship of the Earth?

We Place Life at the Center is an exhibition, publication, and educational platform that aims to address these central questions, fostering dialogues around art, science, and environmental justice in Los Angeles and across the Americas. Building upon four years of research and fieldwork in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the project highlights diverse struggles and promotes alternatives to the global climate crisis rooted in ecofeminism and environmental justice.

Presented across two floors of the museum’s galleries, the exhibition assembles new works by Caycedo alongside artworks from artists and environmental movements within her network. We see the exhibition not merely as a showcase of one artist’s work but as a visualization of research and affinities that provide a dynamic space for learning, solidarity, and action across communities and geographies.

We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro is organized by the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. The exhibition is curated by Joseph Daniel Valencia with the assistance of Nadia Estrada and Gloria Ortega