About Valentina's Artistic Journey
Valentina Campos is a third-generation Bolivian artist. Her art work evokes the feminine mythologies of traditional seeds and the Andean agro-centric symbolism.
Since year 2000 she has been creating a series of paintings, entitle “Siembra de Mamalas”, reflecting sowing rituals, the role of women in the Andean cosmo-vision, and the protection of biodiversity.
Her illustrations have been published in various local and international stories, magazines, posters and books. “May the Ayllu Blossom” is her first written children’s book.
Valentina has worked with the NGO “Centro de Diseño Artesanal y Cooperativa Campesina, Arte Campo”, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, with Guarani, Chiquitano and Ayoreo communities, a project designed to assist in affirming indigenous art.
Since 2005 she co-founded “Uywana Wasi” – a Community Learning space in rainforest of La Paz.
My work emerges from the intersection of ancestral memory and present-day environmental concerns. Through my paintings, I seek to honor the feminine spirits that have guided Andean agricultural practices for centuries.
The “Mamalas” series visualizes these spirits as powerful female figures connected to specific plants and seeds. Each Mamala carries unique characteristics and gifts, embodying the life-giving forces that sustain our communities.
I paint to preserve these stories and to invite viewers to reconnect with the wisdom of indigenous relationships to land, food, and community. In a world facing ecological crisis, these ancient perspectives offer vital alternatives to dominant narratives of progress and development.
My artistic process involves research into traditional songs, rituals, and oral histories, as well as direct engagement with farming communities. I believe art can serve as a bridge between generations and cultures, helping us remember what we must not forget.
When I was a child I used to paint with my grandmother, with my mother, on the walls, on the floor, at school, on the streets with chalk, with mud…
I painted from my mind in the sky when I was somewhere where I was not allowed to paint.
During the the socio-political crisis, my family went through dark and difficult times. It was necessary to migrate to the country. There the peasant families lived another world parallel to the civilize one. With them (and also with my grandmother) I learned about nurturing and caring for the community of plants, the community of animals, the community of spirits. Nurturing and allowing each other to be nurture. I always used to see the member’s spirits of each community.
Later, traveling alone through the communities of Norte Potosi, I learned how women sing songs to each of the seeds for their growth. They were lovingly treated as a daughter, a sister, a mother… Immediately I imagined all of them and transported them to my canvas.
I continue to be inspired, to be filled with admiration and awed, by the abundance of feminine myths and tales that I have discovered about seeds, plants, and food, and by cultural and biological diversity itself. My paintings are not only a personal channel to express the intimate sense of nature that I deeply identify with, but also a bridge to communicate, transmit, and educate others about the message of traditional wisdom.
Returning to earth is no longer an option but a responsibility. To return in a renewed way, to heal, to recreate our memory and ancestral practices, is for me an urgency in the face of the socio-cultural denigration in which we find ourselves.
I feel that my series of paintings “Mamalas, seeds source of life” will never end, given the infinity of biodiversity and its spirits that guide and inspire me to paint them.
Join the Circle
In Andean tradition, circles represent community, continuity, and the sharing of wisdom across generations—reach out to become part of this ongoing dialogue about art, heritage, and our collective relationship with the natural world.
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