Carlos Maria Romero aka Atabey Mamasita

Carlos Maria Romero aka Atabey Mamasita is a London-based artist from Barranquilla (Colombia) who concentrates mostly on embodied, edifying, caring, pleasurable technologies and strategies of reclamation and resistance to hegemonic and historical violence and dereliction; working in the intersection of dance, visual arts, activism, pedagogy and curating, and collaborating with charities, architects, and several international artists collectives like SPIT! (Sodomites, Perverts, Inverts Together!), who performs and presents internationally a series of queer manifestos responding to contemporary pressing issues of sexual and gender oppression; Vividero Colectivo, whose projects seek to reclaim marginalised social practices and architectural sites as cultural heritage; and Dancing at the Crossroads (As We Walk), a group of diasporic artists from the Global South processing and denouncing through gatherings and publications how coloniality operates in European Dance institutions.

Maria Romero developed in 2016 Vogue-Chi, a movement practice for people aged 50+ that evolved into a multi-generational queer and allies safe space for self-expression and coming together; in 2018 A House of Ecstatic Virality, a dance and conversation practice, in collaboration with Latinx and Polish volunteers, creating a life affirming environment for people to explore HIV related issues; in 2019 Like a Ghost Dance/The Heartbeat Spiral, a dance meditation to harness constructive aspects of the dying process; and in 2020 Hurakan Caress, a movement exploring the power of dance, feeling sexy and feeling one-self as practices of self-care and resistance, suing mobile phones and Caribbean rhythms.

As a member of the collective Dancing at the Crossroads (As We Walk), Carlos Maria Romero aka Atabey Mamasita has been one of the house artists of workspacebrussels from January 2021 until April 2023.