About

Camilo Villa is a Colombian interdisciplinary artist and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His practice exists at the intersection of art, pedagogy, and social justice, exploring borders not only as geographic divisions, but as social and cultural constructs that regulate identity, belonging, and freedom of expression. Through his work, Villa examines the layered realities of migration across geographical borders alongside the internal borders that shape the immigrant experience, including language, assimilation, memory, and cultural expectations.

Villa holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California College of the Arts and a Master of Education from San Francisco State University, where his research focused on gender-inclusive language and pedagogy. Alongside his artistic practice, he is a Spanish language educator and lecturer, and works as a curriculum integrator merging art and language learning, as well as a consultant specializing in inclusive curriculum and teacher training across the United States.

His recent and most notable exhibitions include a 2025 Pride exhibition at the Office of San Francisco District 8 Supervisor and Board President Rafael Mandelman, as well as We Belong – Pertenecemos, presented at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery as part of a Hispanic Heritage exhibition (2022). In 2025, he completed a mural in Lisbon, Portugal as part of an international artist residency. His work has also been featured in publications including Bay Area Reporter, Voyage LA, NEWAGE, and Latin:SF.

Ultimately, Villa seeks to create work that holds space for reflection, resistance, and recognition. He is interested in how art can function both as a confrontational and healing practice, making visible the tensions of lived experience while imagining new possibilities for connection and belonging.