Alberto Baraya works with video, sculpture, and installation to create works that mimic the practices of the contemporary voyager. Works like Fabula de los pajaros, awarded honorable mention at the 11th Cuenca Biennial, Testigos inhábiles, and El rio, are rooted in the history of Colombia and serve as critiques towards narrative constructions of nationhood. His best-known series to date, Herbario de plantas artificiales (2009-present) condenses many of the concerns within his practice. Consisting of the repetitive act of documenting fake plants and flowers, the artist raises issues, such as the motivations behind scientific rationality and taxonomic agendas and the processes of mystification and artificiality within anthropological expeditions of new land in the 19th c.
