María José Besoain

Maria José was born in Santiago, Chile. She is an architect with a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and she completed postgraduate studies in Spatial Analysis (GIS) at the University of Chile. Currently residing in Valdivia, located in the south of Chile, Maria José founded (2017) and co-directs the Valdivia's Biomaterials Laboratory (LABVA), an autonomous, self-managed, and community-driven laboratory focused on researching, experimenting, and prototyping biomaterials. In 2022, she established "Biopolimérica”, the Latin American Meeting on Biodesign and Biomaterials.

Over the past seven years, through LABVA, Maria José has dedicated herself to biodesign, specifically focusing on developing new materialities, understanding interspecies co-creation, and questioning material culture through biofabrication. Her primary interest lies in creating native and endemic biomaterials to promote autonomy and sovereignty over our territories. She believes that biomaterials serve as an agency tool to combat colonialism and to reconstruct our natural and cultural heritage. Whatever she finds, she ferments.

April 2024