Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau’s interdisciplinary practice spans cinema, video art, installation, and performance, with a focus on queer decoloniality. The Berlin and Bogotá-based German-Colombian artist concentrates on inventing myths and utopias inspired by rural and urban cultures in Colombia. In doing so, they create works and collaborations with racialized artists and communities that have been historically made invisible, especially Emberá & Wayúu, sexual dissident non-binary bodies (including themselves), and rebellious LatinX trans women.
A co-founder and artistic director of the transnational German-Colombian association Atelier Lapaetau, Paetau completed their studies in Media Art at KHM Cologne and Film at EICTV Cuba. Their films have premiered at documenta14, New York Film Festival, BFI London, New Directors/New Films MoMa, and Rotterdam, and garnered awards and nominations at Cannes Film Festival, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, and Cartagena International Film Festival. Performances and installations have premiered at Gropius Bau, HKW, Wexner Center of the Arts, Monitoring Kasseler Dokfest, Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, Cinemateca de Bogotá, and the 11th Berlin Biennale, as well as their first solo exhibition in the IBB Video Space at Berlinische Galerie.
