Loriana Espinel is a Colombian artist based in Houston. Her practice includes painting, photography, sculpture, film, and performance, and focuses on how visual languages, such as writing, mark-making, sound, and spatial organization, operate as shared human systems.

She received formal training at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and has worked across Colombia, the United States, and Europe. Early collaborations with Theater of the Senses and later with a multimedia theater collective shaped her interest in embodied perception and the relationship between space, sound, and audience experience.

Espinel’s work often develops through long-term research and studio-based inquiry. Her large-scale sculptural project Anaconda, exhibited at the Cullen Sculpture Garden of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, integrated sculpture, sound, scent, and spatial immersion to explore how ecological and mythic references function within contemporary art contexts.

In recent years, Espinel has focused on calligraffiti, a hybrid visual method combining calligraphy, typography, and graffiti. Drawing from historical writing systems and early visual markings, she approaches writing as a visual structure rather than a readable text, working at scale through repetition and layering.

Across media, Espinel treats art-making as a research process, using form, structure, and visual language to activate shared frameworks rather than personal narrative.

 
Loriana Espinel
CV
Education
BA Visual Arts
Universidad de los Andes. Colombia1999
Artist INC Houston — Fresh Arts
2025

Professional development program for artists focused on entrepreneurship and sustainable practice.

Awards & Recognitions
Grant. Colombia in the World (Diaspora Program)
Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Knowledge of Colombia, Bogotá2025

Grant supporting El Árbol de los Anhelos (I Have a Dream), commissioning four large canvases within a thirty-piece series on universal human rights.

Participant, Artist INC
Fresh Arts, Houston2025

Selected for a professional development program in entrepreneurship and sustainable art practice.

Solo Exhibition – Chiribiquete
Consulate of Colombia, Houston2025
Commissioned Sculpture – Anaconda
Children’s Museum of Houston, Houston2025

Commissioned by the University of Houston’s CMALS to create an immersive sculpture inspired by Amazonian mythology. First artist ever to exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Houston.

Community Juror, Fall Festival Panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH)2025

Invited juror for the selection of commissioned artists for MFAH’s Fall Festival in collaboration with ALMAAHH.

Selected Artist – “Myths and Leyendas” Fall Festival
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) & ALMAAHH2024

Commissioned to create a public sculpture inspired by Latin American mythology.

Professional Experience
Immigration Process Interpreter
2021–Present

Interpret for asylum seekers and migrants in legal and community contexts. This experience informs a body of political and calligraphic work exploring displacement, language, and human rights.

Solo Exhibitions
Chiribiquete
Colombian Consulate Houston2025

Calligraphitti

Anaconda
Childrens Museum Houston2025

Sculpture

Chiribiquete: A Calligraphic Exploration of Colombian Symbols
Sawyer Yards program at Sabine Street Studios' East Corridor Gallery, Houston. US2024

Calligraphitti

Live Paintings
The Scarab
Aston Martin Dealer: Collector Event2025

Calligraffiti

Revolution
Gala, hosted by the World Affairs Council of Greater Houston2025

Calligraffiti

The Path of Orion
Artist talk at Sabine Studios2024

Calligraffiti

ONGOING / PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS
I am an Artist
Latino cARTographies Digital Board. Houston. US2019-Present

More Info about the Digital Boards Here

Organized by CMALS (Center for Mexican American and Latino/a Studies) of University of Houston.

Locations of the Portable, bilingual, and interactive digital Boards : 

·       Heritage Society , Houston

·       MECA , Houston

·       Hobby Airport , Houston

·       Art Museum (Sugarland)

·       Bush Airport, Houston

·       CMALS , Houston

Group Exhibitions
Anaconda
MFAH Fall Festival. Myths and folklore of Latin America Houston. SA2024

Sculpture

Axis
ELC Fine Art Gallery. ART Takeover. Houston. US2024

Calligraffiti

Beauty in Abstract
BROUHAHAART. Virtua Online Exhibition2024

You can find the exhibition here

I am an Artist
Electronic billboards. Latino ART now. Houston US2019

You can find the billboards here

Stories of a Workforce
Houston Public Library. Houston US2014
Human Rights
Kallinen Art Gallery, Houston2014
Inside the Fog
Art Crawl. Nancy Street2014
White Tree
Lawndale Art Center, The Big Show. Houston. US2014
Kyte
Jomar Gallery, Houston2012
All is well: Series Kings
Talento Bilingue de Houston. Houston2011

Latin Group Exhibition organized and presented at

Series Kings: Rafael
Politiqueer By voices breaking boundaries, Houston. SA2011
Shooting Beauty
Lucios Gallery, Houston. SA
Alice in wonderland: Winged
Zen Art Gallery, Houston. US
White
Fundación Social Art Gallery, Bogota. Col1993
Muerte
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Conceptual Art Show, Bogota. Col1991
Print Publications
Stories of a Workforce: Celebrating the Centennial of the Houston Ship Channel
Photography2015

Find book here, Houston

Killing me softly with your rights.
Queer Necropolitics2012

You can find the book here

Houston is
Houston It's Worth It (HIWI-The Book)2007

Find the book here

Ilustration of m y father's poem book
Amanecer del Tiempo2014
The House
The Builder’s Journal. Central Texas Edition. San Antonio Architectures Gems2009
Theater and production
Absolute Art Productions
Angeles Romero Multimedia Theater Troup2013-2020

A multimedia theatre troupe formed by five multidisciplinary artists from the visual and performing arts.

  • Project Love. Flick. Director
  • Amongst Children. Flick Producer
  • 1-Puntos de Fuga (Vanishing points) Multimedia Theater. Asst. Director
  • 2-Puntos de Fuga. (Vanishing points) Multimedia Theater. Asst. Director
  • El sueno de la razón produce monstruos. Multimedia Theater. Stage Manager
  • El Entrecejo (The Brown) Multimedia Theater. Multimedia Operator.
  • Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Multimedia Theater. Asst. Director
jefe de utilería
VI Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá1999
Teatro de los Sentidos
Enrique Vargas Theater Troupe1991-1997
  • El Hilo de Ariadna (Ariane's Thread) Production Manager. Colombia, France, Wales, Spain
  • Oráculos (Oracle). Production Manager.
  • Feria del Tiempo Vivo. Prop and Design Manager
PRESS & MEDIA COVERAGE

For detailed press features, visit my Press & Media Coverage here

2025 — “Feature: CW39 Houston – H-Town Live,” CW39 Houston, TV Broadcast

2024 — “Loriana Espinel: Navigating Worlds Through Art,” Intertwined Arts Blog, Online Feature

2024 — “Transformó las líneas ancestrales...,” Periódico del Meta, Print Feature

2024 — “Interview: Chiribiquete (Dance of Gestures),” Radio Nacional de Colombia, Broadcast

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