Kervin Saint Pere Huarcaya (b. 1991 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian artist and researcher of Indigenous heritage who works at the intersection of contemporary art and decolonial knowledge production. Born and raised in Lima, he moved to Hamburg in 2014, to Vienna in 2019, and has been based in Berlin since 2022.
Saint Pere studied Time-Based Media at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts and Art and Digital Media as a scholarship holder of the Art School Alliance at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Moreover, he completed a Master's degree in Cultural Studies at the Free University of Berlin.
His artistic practice and research focus on decolonial thinking and visual practices that critically engage with archival materials, ethnological museums, and colonial traces in public space. Drawing on Aby Warburg's theories, he develops the concept of the 'afterlife of colonialism' and translates Warburg's visual studies into a decolonial aesthetics. Through artistic interventions, he creates new readings of public space and works systematically on the decolonisation of archival materials.
Saint Pere's work has received numerous awards, including the Ursula Schneider Prize (2022), the RUNDGANG 50HERTZ Prize in cooperation with Hamburger Bahnhof (2023), and the Kaleidoskop Prize from Kampnagel in memory of former forced labourers and resistance fighters of the Nazi era (2024). He iwas nominated for the Nordwestkunst Award in Wilhelmshaven (2025) and received a special distinction at the Young Artists Award of the Kunstverein Galerie Reinickendorf (2025).
His works have been exhibited at venues including Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, and the Fluctoplasma Festival. As a speaker, he has participated in international conferences, including at the University of Oxford (Margins in Latin American Studies), at HFBK Hamburg (Staying with the Conflict), and in Dortmund (STADT_RAUM – Zukunft Museum).
His publications include 'Epistemic Extractivism – The Afterlife of the Non-Visual Image' (in: Detour / Umwege / Desvíos: Künstlerische Wissenspraktiken als dekoloniale Strategien), 'Decolonising the Archive' (in: Zwischen „Südsee" und „Sea of Islands": Ozeanien in visueller Selbst- und Fremdrepräsentation, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna), and 'We Are All Kanakas' (in: BIG CRITICAL ENERGY: Künstlerisch-wissenschaftliche Forschung). His work thus combines artistic practice with research and challenges established narratives in order to open spaces for marginalised perspectives.
Education
2022 - July 2025
Master of Arts - Free University of Berlin, Institute for Latin American Studies (LAI), study Cultural Studies
2019 - July 2022
Master of Fine Arts - University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK), study focus on time-based media
2020 - 2021
Art and Digital Media at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (ASA program)
2015 - 2019
Bachelor of Fine Arts - University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK)
Awards and scholarships
2025
Special Distinction at the Young Artists Award 2025 of the Galerie Reinickendorf and Kunstverein, Germany
2025
Nominated Nordwestkunst 2025 Award Wilhelmshaven, Germany
2024
Kaleidoscope Prize for Marginalised Artists (Kampnagel), in memory of former forced labourers and resistance fighters of the Nazi era
2023
Winner of the Rundgang 50Hertz. In cooperation with the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart - Berlin
2022
Ursula Schneider Prize from the Freunde des Hamburger Museums der Arbeit e.V. 2022 - Master’s Thesis for The Afterlife of Colonialism
2020
Scholarship holder of the Art School Alliance (ASA) International Exchange Programme of the HFBK Hamburg
Talks and readings
2024 - June
Lecture: Beyond the Margins of the Archives - Epistemic Extractivism and the Afterlife of Colonialism. Graduate Conference: Margins in Latin American Studies, University of Oxford
2024 - April
Lecture: The Afterlife of Colonialism as Decolonial Aesthetics, Series of events: Future Museum. Critical impulses for museum practice, curated by Claudia Wagner (MKK)
2023 - May
Staying with the Conflict. Working against antisemitism and racism as artistic practice at the HFBK Hamburg, organised by: Nora Sternfeld. Leader of workshop no. 3 with Livia Erdösi and moderated by Sarah Savalanpour
2023- June
Lecture The Afterlife of Colonialism at the 2nd Oxford - Berlin Latin American Graduate Conference of the Berlin University Alliance
2023 - June
Lecture Performance The White Background in the context of the Angewandte Festival 2023, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Screenings
2024 - February
Participation in the film festival, ENCOURAGE Film Talents, with the experimental documentary film We are all Kanaken, Berlin
2023 - December
Participation in the film festival, Porto/Post/Doc: Film & Media Festival, with the experimental documentary film We are all Kanaken, Porto
2023 - March
Participation in the film festival, Diagonale'23 - Festival of Austrian Film, with the experimental documentary film »We are all Kanaken« Graz
2023 - 2024
Participation in the East Silver Librar, Institute of Documentary Film Prague. With the experimental documentary »We are all Kanaken«
2022 - Oktober
Screening »We are all Kanaken« The Contemporary Reemployments of Amateur Film, a colloquium at the Espace Magnan in Nice
2022 - April
Participation in the film festival, European Media Art Festival N°35 - EMAF with the experimental documentary film »We are all Kanaken« Osnabrück
2021 - November
Screening of the experimental documentary film »We are all Kanaken« as part of the project: Amateurinnen*. Artistic Research Programme: Exploration of the Austrian Film Museum's Sammlung Collection Holdings
2018 - May
Participation in the film festival AL ESTE with the short film »Bahúan«, Lima and Pucallpa
Exhibtions
2024 September
Op’n Kiwief - New Perspectives from Hamburg, curated by Anne Meerpohl (HFBK) and Thomas Niemeyer. Location: Städtische Galerie Nordhorn
2023 - May
Displacement as an aesthetic strategy, exhibition and award ceremony, Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, with the master’s degree project project: The city of Hamburg and its afterlife of colonialism
2023- October
Emil Nolde and the Afterlife of Colonialism, intervention in the Zwischenraum of the MARKK museum in Hamburg, as part of the Fluctoplasma Festiva
2022 - July
Graduate show of the HFBK Hamburg, master project »The city of Hamburg and its afterlife of colonialism«
2022 - April
Heide, group exhibition, curated by Bettina v. Dziembowski, at Kunstverein & Stiftung Springhornhof, Lüneburg
2022 - January
Participation in the annual exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, presentation of the work of the students of the Department of Art and Digital Media in the Film Museum Vienna
2021 - December
Who has the right to represent the other? - Installation and para-city walk as part of the conference "Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments. Contested Memory in Public Space" organised by Michaela Melián and Nora Sternfeld
2021 - November
Screening of the experimental documentary film »Wir sind alle Kanaken« as part of the project: Amateurinnen*. Artistic Research Programme: Exploration of the Austrian Film Museum's Sammlung Collection Holdings
2021 - June
Eco Flirt, group exhibition curated by Elisabeth von Samsonow in the framework of the Vienna Biennale for Change 2021, at SMOLKA Gallery
2020 - November
Participation in the exhibition Home Museum, Lagos Photo Festival: "Rapid Response Restitution", concept developed by Azu Nwagbogu and Dr. Clémentine Deliss
2020 - July
Tupi or not -group exhibition with Christiany Erler, Esteban Perez, Saray Purto, Kervin Saint-Pere and Luísa Telles, Galerie linksrechts, Hamburg, Germany
2019 - July
Graduate show of the HFBK Hamburg, bachelor project »The Flowers of the Garden of Delights»
2017 - July
Group exhibition: Mapping Plants as part of the graduate exhibition at the HFBK Hamburg
2017 - February
How the other half lives, group exhibition as part of the annual exhibition HFBK Hamburg
2014 Artist in Residence Programme
Participation in Association Selva Art and Science Center, residency for artists*, location: Pucallpa, Amazonas.
2013
Group exhibition: Remembrance of the 1980 Terrorism in Peru, ENSABAP Art School Lima
Saint Pere studied Time-Based Media at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts and Art and Digital Media as a scholarship holder of the Art School Alliance at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Moreover, he completed a Master's degree in Cultural Studies at the Free University of Berlin.
His artistic practice and research focus on decolonial thinking and visual practices that critically engage with archival materials, ethnological museums, and colonial traces in public space. Drawing on Aby Warburg's theories, he develops the concept of the 'afterlife of colonialism' and translates Warburg's visual studies into a decolonial aesthetics. Through artistic interventions, he creates new readings of public space and works systematically on the decolonisation of archival materials.
Saint Pere's work has received numerous awards, including the Ursula Schneider Prize (2022), the RUNDGANG 50HERTZ Prize in cooperation with Hamburger Bahnhof (2023), and the Kaleidoskop Prize from Kampnagel in memory of former forced labourers and resistance fighters of the Nazi era (2024). He iwas nominated for the Nordwestkunst Award in Wilhelmshaven (2025) and received a special distinction at the Young Artists Award of the Kunstverein Galerie Reinickendorf (2025).
His works have been exhibited at venues including Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, and the Fluctoplasma Festival. As a speaker, he has participated in international conferences, including at the University of Oxford (Margins in Latin American Studies), at HFBK Hamburg (Staying with the Conflict), and in Dortmund (STADT_RAUM – Zukunft Museum).
His publications include 'Epistemic Extractivism – The Afterlife of the Non-Visual Image' (in: Detour / Umwege / Desvíos: Künstlerische Wissenspraktiken als dekoloniale Strategien), 'Decolonising the Archive' (in: Zwischen „Südsee" und „Sea of Islands": Ozeanien in visueller Selbst- und Fremdrepräsentation, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna), and 'We Are All Kanakas' (in: BIG CRITICAL ENERGY: Künstlerisch-wissenschaftliche Forschung). His work thus combines artistic practice with research and challenges established narratives in order to open spaces for marginalised perspectives.
Education
2022 - July 2025
Master of Arts - Free University of Berlin, Institute for Latin American Studies (LAI), study Cultural Studies
2019 - July 2022
Master of Fine Arts - University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK), study focus on time-based media
2020 - 2021
Art and Digital Media at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (ASA program)
2015 - 2019
Bachelor of Fine Arts - University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK)
Awards and scholarships
2025
Special Distinction at the Young Artists Award 2025 of the Galerie Reinickendorf and Kunstverein, Germany
2025
Nominated Nordwestkunst 2025 Award Wilhelmshaven, Germany
2024
Kaleidoscope Prize for Marginalised Artists (Kampnagel), in memory of former forced labourers and resistance fighters of the Nazi era
2023
Winner of the Rundgang 50Hertz. In cooperation with the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart - Berlin
2022
Ursula Schneider Prize from the Freunde des Hamburger Museums der Arbeit e.V. 2022 - Master’s Thesis for The Afterlife of Colonialism
2020
Scholarship holder of the Art School Alliance (ASA) International Exchange Programme of the HFBK Hamburg
Talks and readings
2024 - June
Lecture: Beyond the Margins of the Archives - Epistemic Extractivism and the Afterlife of Colonialism. Graduate Conference: Margins in Latin American Studies, University of Oxford
2024 - April
Lecture: The Afterlife of Colonialism as Decolonial Aesthetics, Series of events: Future Museum. Critical impulses for museum practice, curated by Claudia Wagner (MKK)
2023 - May
Staying with the Conflict. Working against antisemitism and racism as artistic practice at the HFBK Hamburg, organised by: Nora Sternfeld. Leader of workshop no. 3 with Livia Erdösi and moderated by Sarah Savalanpour
2023- June
Lecture The Afterlife of Colonialism at the 2nd Oxford - Berlin Latin American Graduate Conference of the Berlin University Alliance
2023 - June
Lecture Performance The White Background in the context of the Angewandte Festival 2023, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Screenings
2024 - February
Participation in the film festival, ENCOURAGE Film Talents, with the experimental documentary film We are all Kanaken, Berlin
2023 - December
Participation in the film festival, Porto/Post/Doc: Film & Media Festival, with the experimental documentary film We are all Kanaken, Porto
2023 - March
Participation in the film festival, Diagonale'23 - Festival of Austrian Film, with the experimental documentary film »We are all Kanaken« Graz
2023 - 2024
Participation in the East Silver Librar, Institute of Documentary Film Prague. With the experimental documentary »We are all Kanaken«
2022 - Oktober
Screening »We are all Kanaken« The Contemporary Reemployments of Amateur Film, a colloquium at the Espace Magnan in Nice
2022 - April
Participation in the film festival, European Media Art Festival N°35 - EMAF with the experimental documentary film »We are all Kanaken« Osnabrück
2021 - November
Screening of the experimental documentary film »We are all Kanaken« as part of the project: Amateurinnen*. Artistic Research Programme: Exploration of the Austrian Film Museum's Sammlung Collection Holdings
2018 - May
Participation in the film festival AL ESTE with the short film »Bahúan«, Lima and Pucallpa
Exhibtions
2024 September
Op’n Kiwief - New Perspectives from Hamburg, curated by Anne Meerpohl (HFBK) and Thomas Niemeyer. Location: Städtische Galerie Nordhorn
2023 - May
Displacement as an aesthetic strategy, exhibition and award ceremony, Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, with the master’s degree project project: The city of Hamburg and its afterlife of colonialism
2023- October
Emil Nolde and the Afterlife of Colonialism, intervention in the Zwischenraum of the MARKK museum in Hamburg, as part of the Fluctoplasma Festiva
2022 - July
Graduate show of the HFBK Hamburg, master project »The city of Hamburg and its afterlife of colonialism«
2022 - April
Heide, group exhibition, curated by Bettina v. Dziembowski, at Kunstverein & Stiftung Springhornhof, Lüneburg
2022 - January
Participation in the annual exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, presentation of the work of the students of the Department of Art and Digital Media in the Film Museum Vienna
2021 - December
Who has the right to represent the other? - Installation and para-city walk as part of the conference "Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments. Contested Memory in Public Space" organised by Michaela Melián and Nora Sternfeld
2021 - November
Screening of the experimental documentary film »Wir sind alle Kanaken« as part of the project: Amateurinnen*. Artistic Research Programme: Exploration of the Austrian Film Museum's Sammlung Collection Holdings
2021 - June
Eco Flirt, group exhibition curated by Elisabeth von Samsonow in the framework of the Vienna Biennale for Change 2021, at SMOLKA Gallery
2020 - November
Participation in the exhibition Home Museum, Lagos Photo Festival: "Rapid Response Restitution", concept developed by Azu Nwagbogu and Dr. Clémentine Deliss
2020 - July
Tupi or not -group exhibition with Christiany Erler, Esteban Perez, Saray Purto, Kervin Saint-Pere and Luísa Telles, Galerie linksrechts, Hamburg, Germany
2019 - July
Graduate show of the HFBK Hamburg, bachelor project »The Flowers of the Garden of Delights»
2017 - July
Group exhibition: Mapping Plants as part of the graduate exhibition at the HFBK Hamburg
2017 - February
How the other half lives, group exhibition as part of the annual exhibition HFBK Hamburg
2014 Artist in Residence Programme
Participation in Association Selva Art and Science Center, residency for artists*, location: Pucallpa, Amazonas.
2013
Group exhibition: Remembrance of the 1980 Terrorism in Peru, ENSABAP Art School Lima