For “Tengo Celos” 1987, I found the cement buckets used in construction and dressed them with pantyhose of various colours, admiring the single or double holes they created. I then applied dirt, cement, stains and tar to them. #pantyhose #retrospective

For “Con Pies y Manos” 1989, I explored how pantyhose gives shape and meaning. By filling them with soil, I was able to shape precarious feet that look like a hybrid between feet and potatoes. And by using rubber gloves as a mould, I made hands. #pantyhose #retrospective

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For “Colchón / Mattress” 1988, I filled stockings with dirt, and then packed them in the size and shape of a mattress, with individual pieces resembling bodies or body parts. As a Colombian, I wonder how can we sleep with knowledge of so many deaths. #pantyhose #retrospective

In the mid-80s, I filled pantyhose with soil and grass seeds to create sausage forms. I watered them observed them turning into green hairy leg shapes. It was an exploration of life’s self-making ability as a sculptural process. #pantyhose #retrospective

I was interested in how potatoes could occupy the inside space of a dirt box. I put them in a sculptural, black dirt box and occasionally opened it to see how they were doing. After growing they would desiccate and die and could be displayed dead. #potatoes #retrospective

As a first year MFA sculpture student at Yale University on a scholarship (and hence, not much money for art materials). I figured I would start with the most basic sculptural gesture, forming sand balls. Here is a photograph “Bolas de Arena” 1988. #sandballs

The idea for my 1992 exhibition “Calabazas” at San Francisco Artspace and Galeria Sala Alternativa in Caracas was to make objects out of indigenous materials from Colombia. The objects are gourds and were used by pre-Columbian cultures as containers. #gourds #retrospective

I grew up in Colombia surrounded by architecture and design. I am the daughter of two architects and studied architecture before switching to art. When I started to make public art, I just felt at such ease. I had prepared all my life for it. #ripplesanddroplets

In developing my mural, “Ripples and Droplets”, I worked closely with acclaimed architect Angelo Candalepas. I am a huge admirer of his work. See candalepas.com.au #ripplesanddroplets #mural

From sketchbook ➡️ reality! “Emu Cylinders” 2008. Emu feathers, fibreglass net, glue, metal.#contemporarytextileart

From sketchbook ➡️ reality! “Calabazas” 1992, San Francisco Artspace #gourds #calabazas

From sketchbook ➡️ reality! “El Arte de la Desaparicion 2” 2001. 'Dead leaf' butterflies Kalima inachus inachus, clay, paint, metal, glass. #butterflies #treebranch

From sketchbook ➡️ reality! “Flea Weightlifter in “Cardoso Flea Circus” 1995 at the Sydney Opera House #cardosofleacircus

From sketchbook ➡️ reality! “Flea Weightlifter in “Cardoso Flea Circus” 1995 at the Sydney Opera House #cardosofleacircus

From sketchbook ➡️ reality! “Cardoso Flea Circus” Tent 1996. Produced by the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia #cardosofleacircus

My 2010 work, “The Newcastle Chest” was inspired by the Macquarie Collectors’ Chest c1818. The wunderkammer conceals and reveals the work of 5 Australian artists: Philip Wolfhagen, Louise Weaver, Esme Timbery, Lionel Bawden and Maria Fernanda Cardoso. #australianartists