Artist Carolina Caycedo is showcasing her perennial-inspired art at WashU’s Kemper Art Museum between September 9, 2026, and January 4, 2027. Caycedo’s Plant Portraits (2021-ongoing) “highlight systems of reciprocity and collaboration between human and nonhuman entities, specifically the power of people and plants to care for and nurture one another.” Her work, which features Kernza®, perennial grasses, and the biodiversity of the Midwest, captures both the ecological benefits and the reciprocal relationship to humans that these plants possess.

Several additional works by Caycedo will appear in this gallery, addressing themes and topics ranging from critiques of mineral extraction in South America to the vital relationship between feminism and environmentalism. Click the link below to learn more about Carolina Caycedo’s background and ongoing exhibition in St. Louis.

“Carolina Caycedo (b. 1978, London, lives and works in Los Angeles) holds a BFA from Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá (1999) and an MFA from the University of Southern California (2014). Her work has been the subject of numerous solo and two-person exhibitions including at the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia, Bogotá (2025); Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles (2024); Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Spain (2024); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2021); and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2020). Selected group exhibitions have been held at the Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis (2025); The Brick, Los Angeles (2024); Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, Florida (2024); The Clark, Williamstown, Massachusetts (2023); 15th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2023); El Museo del Barrio, New York (2021); Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2018). She will participate in the 61st Venice Biennale (2026). Caycedo is the recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship (2023); Latinx Arts Fellowship, Mellon Foundation (2021); Borderlands Fellowship (2020); Creative Capital Visual Arts Award (2015); and Harpo Foundation Visual Artist Grant (2015).”

Photo credit: I am Kernza (2026) – Chris Young, Courtesy of Carolina Caycedo