Samara Colina
Samara Colina Borja | |
|---|---|
_a_Samara_Colina_Borja_en_el_XLII_ENAJ_03_(cropped).jpg) in 2022 | |
| Born | 1992 Mexico City, Mexico |
| Died | 27 July 2026 (aged 33–34) |
Samara Colina Borja[a] (1992 – 27 July 2026) was a Mexican visual artist and feminist.[1] Based in Guanajuato, her work dealt with public gatherings, especially political gatherings, and gender. She won awards from the Encuentro Nacional de Arte Joven in 2020 and 2022 and her work was displayed in various exhibits including at the Museo Tamayo and the Celaya Institute of Art and Culture.
Education
[edit]Samara Colina studied visual arts at Universidad de Guanajuato, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2018.[2][3][1] She then studied art production at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, graduating with a master's degree[1] in 2022.[4] She also studied with SOMA México in 2025, a contemporary arts school founded by Yoshua Okón.[2][5]
Art
[edit]Colina was a painter who was inspired by pointillism and Neo-Impressionism in her work.[1] In general, she focused her paintings on crowds, especially political gatherings, social movements, human rights and, later in her career, feminism and gender.[1][6] She painted people and crowds as landscapes instead of portraits.[3] She had become interested in art and politics as a child, attending marches with her parents and visiting museums in Guanajuato.[7][8]
Colina won one of the four acquisition prizes at the 2020 Encuentro Nacional de Arte Joven, organized by the government of Aguascalientes and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura with her piece Coreografía No. 5.[9][1] She won again at the 2022 convention with her painting Tromba.[1][10] She also won third place at the 2021 VIII Bienal Internacional de Arte Visual Universitario[1] and in 2024 at the La Trienal de Tijuana: Internacional Pictórica with her piece Pese a todo, la alegría del encuentro.[11][12] This award in particular increased her profile.[7]
After spending five years painting gatherings at marches and protests, Colina created a series of eight paintings of groups of women which formed her exhibition Entre fieras y basiliscos (transl. Between wild animals and basilisks), displayed in 2023 at the Artwrks virtual gallery.[3][8] Paintings of women in public spaces also formed the basis for the Estas ruinas que vemos exhibit Colina participated in at the Celaya Institute of Art and Culture, again in 2023. Created to counter the fact that much of the public art in Guanajuato was of men, while public art focused on women instead focused on symbolic representations of womanhood and women's roles, Colina created 13 paintings and, in the lead up to the exhibit, renamed the female statues on top of the Teatro Juárez after various noteworthy Guanajuato women.[13] In 2025, she created two series of paintings for her exhibition Pulpa at the RAB 63 gallery in Mexico City: one analyzing the presence of women in Mexican coats of arms (Tengo sed de mí) and the other about women's desires. When speaking of the exhibit, Colina said that she "like[d] that my painting cannot be explained with words".[14]
As of July 2026, several months after she had been diagnosed with cancer, Colina stated she was working on a series of paintings based on her illness.[7]
Exhibitions
[edit]- Entre fieras y basiliscos (2023, at the Artwrks virtual gallery)[3]
- Estas ruinas que vemos (2023, at the Celaya Institute of Art and Culture, Celaya)[13]
- Constructoras de universos (2023, Guanajuato)[6]
- Cuerpox (2024, Punto Magnolia Tepito in Mexico City)[15]
- Pulpa (2025, RAB 63 in Colonia Santa María la Ribera, Mexico City)[1][14]
- The Gesture and the Invisible (2026, at the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City)[16][17]
- Pintura y política (2026)[6][7]
- Uno más uno (Jesús Gallardo Gallery at the University of Guanajuato)[1]
- Almenara (Casa Equis, Mexico City)[1]
Personal life and death
[edit]Samara Colina Borja was born in 1992 in Mexico City, Mexico.[1] She grew up in the city of Guanajuato,[7] where she later lived and worked.[3][2] She was a member of the Verde Aquelarre and Arena en la Vagina feminist collectives.[18][1]
Colina announced in March 2026 that she had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.[1] She underwent treatment and had been hospitalized in León.[18] Colina died on 27 July 2026.[1]
Notes
[edit]- ↑ In this Mexican name, the surname is Colina and the second or maternal family name is Borja.
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rocca, Vivian Della. "Samara Colina, referente del arte contemporáneo y feminista en Guanajuato, fallece". OEM (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 Esquivel, Eloy (28 July 2026). "Falleció Samara Colina pintora y referente del arte contemporáneo en Guanajuato". La Silla Rota (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Soto, Alondra Flores (18 May 2023). "Samara Colina expone serie sobre multitudes reunidas en protestas". La Jornada. ProQuest 2815913436
- ↑ "Samara Colina". Artwks. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- ↑ Hernández, Yair (10 August 2025). "SOMA reafirma su impulso al arte de manera no convencional". Milenio (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 Ortigoza, Ana. "Fallece Samara Colina, reconocida artista y activista social de Guanajuato". Periódico Correo (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 García, Jazmin (1 July 2026). "Pintura y política: La propuesta artística de Samara Colina". Periódico AM (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Samara Colina, del pincel a la reflexión de la vida política en Guanajuato". Periódico Correo (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- ↑ "Dan a conocer a ganadores del Encuentro de Arte Joven 2020". Milenio (in Spanish). 14 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- ↑ "Presentan a los ganadores del XLI Encuentro Nacional de Arte Joven". Secretaría de Cultura (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- ↑ "Premian a ganadores de la Trienal de Tijuana: 2. Internacional Pictórica". OEM (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- ↑ Cuéllar, Mireya (7 September 2024). "Obra que captura la euforia del feminismo gana la Trienal de Tijuana". La Jornada. ProQuest 3101898410.
- 1 2 Soto, Alondra Flores (26 April 2023). "La Jornada: Samara Colina sustituye con mujeres reales el anonimato de las esculturas femeninas". La Jornada (in Mexican Spanish). ProQuest 2806787269. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- 1 2 ""I like that my painting cannot be explained with words," says Samara Colina". CE Noticias Financieras. 24 February 2025. ProQuest 3171194295.
- ↑ Rivera, Niza (20 July 2024). "Ver, oír, aplaudir, silbar…". Proceso. ProQuest 3083057996.
- ↑ "The Gesture and the Invisible". Museo Tamayo. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
- ↑ Macmasters, Merry (9 March 2026). "Exposiciones en el Museo Tamayo promueven los trabajos artísticos en conjunto". La Jornada. ProQuest 3314143319.
- 1 2 Ortigoza, Ana (6 November 2025). "Verde Aquelarre solicita donaciones para apoyar a Samara Colina, activista enferma de leucemia". Periódico Correo (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.