Artist
EDELO
Via Chiapas, Mexico
EDELO, short for “En Donde Era La ONU,” is an experimental artistic space and residency in Chiapas, Mexico. Its name, which means “Where the United Nations Used to Be,” comes from its establishment in offices ceded by the UN after disillusioned indigenous community members occupied the space in fall of 2009. Over 100 occupants remained in place for several months, eventually leading Mia Rollow and Caleb Duarte to found EDELO. Now active for four years, the artist-run space hosts exhibitions, events and a residency program featuring not just artists but activists, healers, gardeners, jugglers, inventors, weavers and scholars from rural Chiapas to practice art as social change.
Duarte began his study of art at Fresno City College in California and went on to graduate from the San Francisco Art Institute and the Graduate Sculpture department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has appeared at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, the Red Dot Art fair in New York, the Sullivan Galleries in Chicago and the World Social Forum in Mumbai and Santiago de Cuba, among others. Mia Eve, born in Chicago, received her MFA from the Graduate Sculpture Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after having studied at the University of Maryland. Her multimedia projects have been presented throughout the United States as well as in Mexico, Hong Kong, Italy and Portugal. Duarte and Rollow presented at Creative Time’s annual Summit in 2012 as Open Call winners.