Liliana Angulo Cortés (Bogotá, 1974–2026) built an extensive career as an artist, researcher, cultural manager, and curator. As an artist, she worked across different regions of the African diaspora through a critical practice oriented toward collective strategies of cultural recovery, in dialogue with the struggles of Afro-descendant communities. Her work — developed through photography, sculpture, performance, and installation — questioned representations of subordination associated with Afro communities, with pieces such as Presencia Negra, Medellín: Retrato de Lucy Rengifo (2007) and solo exhibitions such as Observing Whiteness and Mancha negra. 

She was a visual artist with a specialization in sculpture from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and held a Master's degree in Art from the University of Illinois at Chicago, completed on a Fulbright scholarship. She took part in several collectives supporting the struggles of Afro-Colombian communities, and with her appointment as director of the Museo Nacional, she became the first Afro-Colombian woman to lead one of the oldest museums on the continent. Before directing the Museo Nacional, she held cultural-management positions including deputy director of the Arts at the Instituto Distrital de las Artes (Idartes) and deputy director of Art, Culture, and Heritage at Bogotá's Secretaría de Cultura, Recreación y Deporte. She died on February 21, 2026, at the age of 51.