ANFIBIA was a dream brought to life through a collective art exhibition that brought together the creations of 22 artists. It took place from July 31 to August 11 at MIKO Art Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in the historic center of La Paz, Bolivia, under the following premise:
"The amphibian metamorphosis and its beings as the ultimate inspiration for artistic and intellectual creation, from the oneiric to the scientific."
The response to the open call exceeded expectations, particularly in the diversity of artistic expressions it brought together: video art, an architectural project, painting, paste-up, sketchbooks, mixed media, digital illustration, books, prints, photography, stone and wood sculpture, drawing, analog and digital collage, and conservation magazines: AmphiBios.
This diversity was compelling evidence that amphibians are present in the collective and cultural imagination, and that they inspire genuine interest within the local artistic community. It also demonstrated the importance of cultural spaces opening their doors to themes that connect creativity, environmental awareness, and conservation.
Everything aligned to make ANFIBIA possible. The desire to create an exhibition about amphibians had been resonating in my heart for some time, and it gained new strength after my article, "High-Andean-Amazonian Pond," was published in the first issue of AmphiBios. Being part of the magazine filled me with excitement and led me to create an analog collage. Although amphibian imagery had already appeared in some of my previous work, this collage was special: beyond channeling the emotions of that moment, it represented my sense of belonging to a global community committed to amphibian conservation, a community of people using their resources, knowledge, and talents to protect these beings.
Then I began to wonder: Are there other people with this level of interest and love for amphibians? How could we connect and get to know one another?
My answer was: ART.
I had the opportunity and the tools to test that idea, and also to prove to myself that I could make it happen - not only as an artist, but especially as a cultural manager and co-director of MIKO Art. I had the physical space, the platform, and the trust of the MIKO team: Armin Kuljiš, founder and director, and Leonardo Calisaya, director and my life partner.
I set myself the goal of making ANFIBIA happen, taking the lead in developing the concept and launching my first open call for a collective exhibition. Leonardo supported me from the beginning and accompanied me throughout the process, including the selection of works, logistics, curatorship, installation, promotion, events, reception, and the return of the artworks.
Alongside the selected artworks, we included the Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Inter-Andean Dry Forests of Bolivia and AmphiBios magazine. Together, these elements helped strengthen the project and enabled us to receive institutional support from our partners: Bolivia Arte Contemporáneo (BACO), Bolivian Amphibian Initiative (BAI), and Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA).
ANFIBIA was conceived as an opportunity to bring environmental education, creativity, and amphibian conservation into new spaces and to reach new audiences, using art as a means of expression and connection. Doing it in the MIKO style - with complete creative freedom - allowed us to bring together highly talented Bolivian artists working across multiple disciplines and styles.
Some details remain especially vivid from the experience. Several artworks were created specifically in response to the open call. For three participating artists, it was their first-ever exhibition. The participating artists were equally divided: 11 women and 11 men.
The ANFIBIA universe brought together 37 artworks in different materials and formats. Each piece carried its own spark and message, opening conversations about personal perceptions and creative processes, as well as territory and landscapes. Fantasy and surrealism also found their way into the exhibition.
Among the works focused on Bolivian amphibian species, two women artists created particularly meaningful representations of three species: Alessandra Lavayen painted the iconic giant Lake Titicaca frog (Telmatobius culeus), while Majandra Gutiérrez created prints depicting the Chiquitano poison frog (Ameerega boehmei) and the tricolor harlequin frog (Atelopus tricolor).
The adventure of creating and the joy of sharing nourished the entire process. The exhibition surprised and captivated both its visitors and its participating artists, demonstrating how art can become a meeting point between imagination, environmental education, and conservation.
To close, I would like to share some of the messages that accompanied the artworks, as well as testimonies from some of the artists who participated in ANFIBIA.
Messages
1. Andrea Barral - Video art, "La eclosión del alma" (The Hatching of the Soul)
The work represents the transformation, or metamorphosis, experienced by human beings when they stop pretending in order to respond to society's expectations in everyday life. Through the honest language of the body, characteristic of contemporary dance, a process of liberation, authenticity, and recognition of one's personal essence is revealed. Each movement becomes a genuine expression of the inner world, where the body stops hiding and begins to communicate the truth of the soul. - https://youtu.be/YDnxtfntcFg
2. Sebastián Loayza - Drawing
"This work was created with a lot of love and inspired by amphibians. Usually, a toad does not have that kind of tongue or a tail. However, the choice of these elements comes from thinking not only about toads and frogs as amphibians, but also about salamanders and newts, creating a fantastical animal through their combination."
3. Majandra Gutiérrez - Prints
Artwork inspired by the photographs "Entre dos mundos" (Between Two Worlds) by Daniel Alarcón and David Grunbaum (2025).
Species represented:
- Tricolor harlequin frog (Atelopus tricolor): a small species that can reach approximately 22 mm in length and inhabits humid forests, particularly the Yungas. It is recognized for its striking color pattern of yellow, black, and red.
- Chiquitano poison frog (Ameerega boehmei): a venomous endemic species of the Chiquitano Dry Forest, belonging to the poison frog family, reaching only about 3 cm in length.
Both species are vulnerable to climate change and the ongoing threats to their habitat, as they are bioindicators of the ecological health of the places where they occur.
What are chytrid fungi?
Chytrid fungi (Chytridiomycota) cause a disease called chytridiomycosis, which is lethal to many amphibians. The disease attacks their skin, which is essential for respiration and water balance, and can ultimately lead to physiological failure and death.
One of the specific chytrid fungi associated with this disease is Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
Testimonials
1. Elvira Zabala and Brandon Quisbert - Uma Waru P'iqi Architectural Project
When Water Becomes Home
In "ANFIBIA," we did not exhibit merely a dwelling; we shared an essential question: How can we inhabit water without denying it, containing it, or turning our backs on it?
Walking through the exhibition meant discovering that the same theme could take on countless forms and sensibilities. Among photographs, paintings, sculptures, and representations of small amphibian creatures, each work revealed a different way of approaching nature, understanding its fragility, and recognizing its extraordinary capacity for transformation. Amid this diversity, architecture also found a place from which to speak about conservation.
Uma Waru P'iqi arrived at the exhibition as a fragment of Lake Titicaca: an amphibious architecture born from the encounter between water, the body, Aymara memory, and ancestral knowledge woven into totora reeds. The proposal imagines a dwelling capable of accompanying the natural cycles of the lakeside landscape, adapting to its changes without losing its connection to the land, the community, and its cultural roots.
Exhibiting it meant placing it before new eyes, listening to other interpretations, and seeing it enter into dialogue with creations from different disciplines. It ceased to be merely an architectural project and became part of a collective conversation about adaptation, identity, conservation, and coexistence.
One of the most meaningful moments was opening the UIA Guidebook for the 2030 Agenda - 2026 Edition and finding our proposal materialized on its pages. That printed object contained much more than drawings and words: it safeguarded the landscape that inspired the project, the memory of a community, and the shared work of its four authors: Vania Susana Calle Quispe, Elvira Zabala Brañez, Brandon Ricardo Quisbert Yujra, and Benjamín Mayta Ventura.
Displaying that publication allowed us to celebrate the journey of an idea born in Bolivia and recognized on an international stage.
Like amphibians, Uma Waru P'iqi inhabits two worlds. It moves between tradition and the future, between land and water, between memory and transformation. It reminds us that conservation does not always mean remaining still; sometimes it means learning to change, adapt, and evolve without losing our roots.
https://www.uia-architectes.org/en/news/2026-guidebook-2030-agenda/
2. Leonardo Calisaya - MIKO Art
The art exhibition "ANFIBIA" was a gathering of different perspectives and ways of understanding our relationship with the world we inhabit. For me, the amphibious represents the possibility of moving between different territories, the relationship between humanity and its environment, the visible and the invisible, matter and thought.
Through art, we can look again at what we often fail to perceive. Creating is also a way of recognizing that we are part of an ecosystem, and that conservation means, above all, learning once again how to observe and relate to our surroundings.
The ANFIBIA exhibition was a space where art could become a form of reflection and awareness.
ANFIBIA ARTISTS: Alessandra Lavayen, Alexandra Llanque, Andrea Barral, Benjamín Mayta, Boris Saravia, Brandon Quisbert, Danitza Machicado, Elvira Zabala, Fernanda Illanes, Fernando Gonzales, Jorge Altamirano, Leo Calisaya, Majandra Gutiérrez, Manuel Nina, Natalia Uzquiano, Nicolas Huerta, Ramiro Villca, Renata Lazcano, Rommel Castillo, Sebastián Loayza, Valeria Valda, Vania Calle.