Juan Arango Palacios

Juan Arango Palacios (b.1997, Pereira, Colombia) is an artist whose vibrant visual narratives build a world of sanctuary and celebration. Highlighting the experience of marginalized communities, the artist's works are centered on uplifting the queer experience—while also exploring the artist's experiences growing up in a post-colonial context in Colombia and the United States. Raised in a traditional Catholic community in Colombia, a series of migrations brought Arango Palacios and his family to the American South in search of a better life. Moving through Louisiana and Texas, their sense of identity and belonging began to be skewed by their lack of knowledge of the English language, their unfamiliarity with American culture, and their internal struggle with a queer identity. Arango Palacios graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2020 and has developed an interdisciplinary artistic practice exploring drawing, painting, textile-making, and ceramic sculpture. Arango Palacois' work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Povos Gallery, Chicago, IL; Co-Prosperity SpherE, Chicago, IL; Co-Prosperity Catskill, Catskill, NY; New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA; Musik Curatorial, Dallas, TX; Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL; and SITE Galleries at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Arango Palacios has participated in artist residencies at The Macedonia Institute in Chatham, NY; the Bed Stuy Art Residency in Brooklyn, NY; and the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art Residency at Yale University in Norfolk, CT. In 2020, the artist received the Chicago Artists Coalition SPARK Grant in Chicago, IL. Arango Palacios lives and works in Chicago, IL.