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The Artist: Diana Ocampo Estrada

1. Architect and Artist.

Diana Ocampo Estrada, Colombian artist born in Chaparral (Tolima), has always lived in close relationship with nature and art. Her childhood and adolescence took place between the departments of Tolima, Huila, Risaralda, and Caldas, Colombian regions known for their rich biodiversity and cultural heritage. Her experiences in these rural and mountainous environments, and especially her contact with the local culture and geography, shaped her artistic sensitivity, establishing a deep connection with the land, water, the coffee ecosystem, and the vibrant musical and festive culture of the regions.

2. Academic and Artistic Training.

In 1985, Diana graduated as an Architect from the Javeriana University in Bogotá. During her training professional, she began her artistic education in a self-taught manner, complementing it with free courses in recognized universities, art schools, and workshops such as that of the Spanish Master Pepe García.

Later, she deepened her practice as a painter at the ATENA Art School in Bogotá (1988-1999), under the direction of Master Hernando González Arrázola, where she was also influenced by prominent teachers such as Freda Sargent, Carlos Salas, Luis Fernando Roldán, Luis Luna, Rita Miranda, Ricardo Toledo, and Clara Inés García, among others.

3. Shared Space Artists' Group Casa Taller El Polo, Bogotá.

For almost two decades, from 2000 to 2019, Diana developed her artistic language and participated in numerous group exhibitions at the national and international levels, perfecting techniques such as painting, drawing, printmaking, serigraphy, collage, xylography, ceramics, color management, and inks on different surfaces, experimenting with new materials, forms of expression, and tools for conceptualization in contemporary art.

4. Artistic and Curatorial Transformation (2020-2025).

With the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the closure of her Casa-Taller in El Polo, Diana decided to carry out a critical review of her artistic trajectory and consolidate her creative identity from a curatorial perspective. This process was developed under the guidance of curator-coach Piedad Casas, who has been accompanying her in a long-term project (2020-2025). Together they co-created a space that, initially virtual and then present, fused criticism, art pedagogy, and creative strategies to transform both the work and the creative process of the artist.

Piedad Casas

Curator-Coach, AICA, International Association of Art Critics

"Looking at Diana's paintings is like opening a window to the soul... hers and ours... a portal that connects us to the deepest and most beloved parts of our history. Each brushstroke and color transports us to places and moments we thought were forgotten, but which beat in our memory like a constant rhythm . The red railing, vibrant like the red of the ripe coffee cherries on the farm, envelops us in the warmth of welcome and childhood vacations. The lines and colors of the clay in the tile factory remind us of the joy of creating and molding with our hands. The loving faces that emerge from the paintings are like a caress to the soul, an instant recognition of loved ones who accompany us through time. And in the background, the lush greens speak to us of promises of harvest, fresh air, and vitality yet to be born. But if we turn to other paintings, we can also find images that connect us with emotions that recognize change and transformation, pain and acceptance, and at the same time the hope to come. Therein lies its magic: it welcomes, it caresses, it heals."

Alma Cristina Ocampo, Psychologist

Artist's Vision

For more than three decades, my artistic practice has been marked by an emotional and aesthetic quest that stems from personal memory, the celebration of life, and the landscapes that live within me. Since 2023, my work has taken a decisive turn toward observation, evocation, and denunciation of the deterioration of the ecosystem of the Colombian coffee landscape. This ancestral and fertile territory has not only been the setting of my life, but also a source of symbols, textures, rhythms, silences, and voids that resonate deeply in my visual language.

In this new phase, my painting moves away from literal or photographic representation to become a sensory, poetic, and existential experience. Through gesture, a wet color palette, and the technique of dripping, glazing, and intentionally created washes, I aim to capture the invisible spirit of the landscape: its humidity, its lush vegetation, the mist that caresses the mountains, the vibration of the rain, the mist, the coffee plantation, the tile roof, the hacienda, the railing, the bamboo groves, the mud, the river, the stones, the seeds, the sacks, the pasilla pepper, the coffee, the city, the grass, etc.

These works arise from deep emotion: nostalgia and rage coexist in every stroke. They are wounded landscapes, open scars in the ecological memory. I am interested in how the deterioration of traditional architecture —wattle and daub houses, guadua and adobe walls, artisanal brick, zinc roofs— becomes a symbol of a blurred cultural landscape. In that deterioration, there is beauty, but there is also a warning: we are losing not only ways of inhabiting but also ways of feeling.

In formal terms, my work incorporates a variety of materials and techniques that I have explored over time: oil, acrylics, screen printing, collage, intervened photography, photocopied texts on paper, but my passion is painting.

Since childhood, painting has been my way of expressing emotions. My perception has been shaped by the coffee ecosystem. I inherited from my father that bond and fascination with its nature.

Portfolio

Immerse yourself in Diana’s visual universe. Explore series, techniques, and themes that define her artistic language.

We invite you to explore Diana Ocampo's art collections in our menu. Simply select the name of each collection to reveal the works and enjoy each piece.