Artist Carolina Caycedo invites viewers to engage in a thought-provoking reflection on the close ties between roots, environmental justice, and collective memory through her upcoming exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Art in St. Louis. An immersive exhibition design that poetically blends plant-based works, mining landscapes, and underground networks.
The Aesthetics of the Invisible
At the Kemper Museum of Art, part of Washington University in St. Louis, Carolina Caycedo draws our attention to the teeming life unfolding beneath our feet. The exhibition *Growing Deep Roots*, scheduled for September 9, 2026, through January 4, 2027, orchestrates a subtle dialogue between sculptures, drawings, prints, and videos. All these works converge on essential themes: water, earth, and the transition to a more equitable energy system. This sculptural and visual exploration extends a practice that the artist masters with virtuosity, at the intersection of environmental justice, traditional knowledge, and ecofeminism.
Carolina Caycedo’s discourse is striking for its clarity without ever resorting to simplification. Rather than limiting herself to a literal denunciation of extractivism, the artist contrasts it with a celebration of slower, interdependent, and—by their very nature—vulnerable relationships. The institution thus presents an exhibition in which the notion of reparation resonates as strongly as that of conflict, offering a profound interpretation of our ecosystem.
Plants Elevated to the Status of Subjects
Through her “Plant Portraits” and “Root Portraits” series, the artist skillfully reimagines botanical and anatomical illustrations to blur the line between human nature and the plant world. The use of the term “portrait” goes beyond mere decorative intent: it involves extracting plants from their role as mere backdrops to establish them as subjects in their own right, endowed with a presence and agency that give them their full existential dimension.
This artistic gesture infuses her recent works dedicated to grasslands, where roots take on the role of a true political language. Carolina Caycedo pays particular attention to perennial grasses and grains, whose root networks could restore soil vitality, mitigate climate change, and safeguard biodiversity. The work *Complex, Nutty, and Slightly Sweet: I Am Kernza* brilliantly illustrates this approach, celebrating a grain that is still relatively unknown but holds immense ecological promise.
A Fertile Regional Anchor
The exhibition draws much of its essence from the identity of St. Louis and its region. Last spring, the artist created an imposing relief engraving, *Prairie Root Portrait*, in the workshops of Island Press. This piece, which celebrates six species of native grasses, is the result of valuable exchanges with scientists and local figures. The result transcends a simple naturalistic tribute: it forges a tangible link between prairie restoration, sustainable agricultural systems, and the wisdom of local knowledge.
This dynamic extends beyond the studio walls with *Fiesta de las Raíces*, a commission created for *Counterpublic 2026: Coyote Time*. Suspended at the National Building Arts Center in Sauget, Illinois, this aerial sculpture embodies a fascination with underground networks. A cohesive approach that demonstrates that, in Caycedo’s universe, roots are, by their very nature, in perpetual motion.
Extraction, Infrastructure, and Scars
The other section of the exhibition takes a more direct approach. With his “Mineral Intensive” series, the artist superimposes landscapes of mining operations, industrial sites, and scenes of labor. The brilliance of the colors lends these canvases an almost unsettling aesthetic, captivating the eye only to confront it more deeply. For this visual beauty cannot mask reality: it acts as a magnet, inviting prolonged contemplation and lucid reflection.
A wall of images unveils *Elwha’s Healing*, in its 2022–2026 version, evoking the rebirth of the Elwha River following the dismantling of two hydroelectric dams—the result of a long struggle led by Indigenous peoples. The return of the salmon is portrayed as a story of healing, without, however, glossing over the slowness of ecological processes or the severity of past devastation.
A Constellation of Memories
Carolina Caycedo firmly situates her work within a collective tradition. Her series of suspended sculptures, *Cosmotarrayas*, intertwines fishing nets, maritime heritage, and astronomical poetry. With *Celestial Autonomy, the Dance of Big Dipper and North Star*, she invokes the North Star and the Big Dipper, guiding figures of navigation in the Alaskan imagination. Behind the installation’s formal grace lies a striking observation: while water is fluid by nature, control structures hinder its free flow.
This journey of discovery is enriched by works by other female and non-binary artists from the museum’s collection, as well as rare specimens selected from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s herbarium. This cross-disciplinary dialogue between portraits, landscapes, and botanical archives underscores a fundamental truth: the environment is not merely a natural concept; it is the product of memory, labor, and power dynamics. While the museum invites us to reflect on the foundations of our world, the artist chooses to reveal its fractures with rare elegance and precision.