Carlos Maria Romero (b. 1979)

Carlos Maria Romero a.k.a. Atabey (Colombia, 1979) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and performer with a background in dance and live art, working in the fields of performing and visual arts, heritage and architectural activism, pedagogy and curating. Maria Romero is the third member of SPIT! (Sodomites, Inverts, Perverts Together!) with whom he wrote and continues presenting a series of queer manifestos responding to contemporary pressing issues of sexual and gender oppression (initially part of Frieze Projects 2017), and a founding member of Vividero Colectivo, a group of multidisciplinary artists and architects revealing narratives in which historically marginalised social practices and architectural sites are re-claimed as cultural heritage. In 2016 Carlos created for people aged 50+ Vogue-Chi, a movement practice that evolved into a multigenerational queer and allies safe space for self-expression and coming together, and that nowadays is provided through Micro Rainbow International to LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees.