THE FOCUS View all posts from The Focus

"I am a Colombian/American visual artist based in Memphis, TN. My project-based work is very personal and celebrates culture and migration, drawing on my experiences as an immigrant. My practice encompasses fiber, video, performance, and installation. Research is the basis of my work and the conceptual frame dictates the media used on each project. Fibers and textile are the soul of my practice."

"I use stitching and embroidery to create abstract maps that trace the time, labor, and my family’s migratory journeys. Hand and machine sewing are integral to my personal history originating in Bogotá, Colombia. Fiber work is a generational tradition in my Colombian family. I learned to stitch from my grandmothers and aunts who learned from their mothers. My aunt Pupi, a single mother, owned a uniform sewing shop where my grandmother and I often helped out. This familial connection made stitching, sewing, and embroidery a natural and vibrant process within my artistic practice. I use these skills to process the concept of a hybrid identity, navigating the delicate gap between not quite being American and not being entirely Colombian."

"I use performance to describe fragile human states, through intimate movement. My performances unpack and subvert traditional roles, dismantling hierarchies and investigating traditional gender roles in Latino culture through Latine dances."

"Through textile and performance my work activates physical environments exploring identity, and migration through movement and intense labor. These performative installations conjure the feminine presence while navigating narratives from both South and North America."

- Johana Moscoso, May 2025

Johana Moscoso (born 1981, Bogotá) is a Colombian - American visual artist working in fiber, installation and performance. Her artwork is in various collections including the Latin American collection of Solita Cohen, Memphis public libraries, and Memphis International Airport.

Moscoso has had numerous solo exhibitions at various galleries, and museums, including the SCAD Museum of Art. Her first retrospective was a virtual exhibition with the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2024.

Moscoso has been awarded various residencies, including: Arts/Industry Residency at the Kohler Company in Kohler, WI (2017), BOLT Residency at the Chicago Artist Coalition in Chicago, IL (2016), and the ACRE Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions in Steuben, WI (2015) and she has received grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2023, the FY24 Individual Artist Fellowship; the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2022 & 2019, Emergency Grant; and The Puffin Foundation LTD in 2019, among others.