About Bioinspirada

Hi, I’m Elsa Magnolia Quicazán-Rubio — biologist, biomechanist, and ocean illustrator, born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia.

My fascination with how living organisms move and interact with their environment led me to study Biology at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, pursue a Master’s degree in hummingbird flight biomechanics at the University of California Riverside, and complete a PhD in fish swimming biomechanics at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. For years I worked alongside engineers and biologists, gathering complex biomechanical data, building predictive models, and using 3D visualizations as tools to describe and understand movement — translating biological complexity into technical language, and technical findings back into biological insight.

Over time, my curiosity expanded into biomimicry, nature-based solutions, and marine ecology. This path brought me into offshore wind energy, where I worked at Seaway7 in the Netherlands advocating for nature-inclusive design initiatives, raising biodiversity awareness across teams, and bridging biological knowledge with engineering requirements. What I do naturally — and what I find most meaningful — is helping teams think about projects in ways that account for nature: its forms, its functions, its design principles, and the complexity of the ecosystems their work affects.

Back in Colombia, I am developing work at the intersection of marine science, ecological communication, and visual storytelling. Through Bioinspirada, I create illustrations and content that make ocean ecosystems — especially deep-sea environments — visible and emotionally accessible. My background in data analysis and scientific visualization informs how I think about communicating complexity, and is a direction I am actively exploring in my illustration practice. I am also active in Colombia’s emerging offshore wind sector, interested in contributing to marine biodiversity protection and ecological integration in the context of the energy transition.

I have lectured on biomimicry to sustainability professionals from across Latin America, co-led an art-science-technology laboratory at the Bogotá Planetarium awarded by Idartes in 2022, participated in Colombia’s First Offshore Wind Energy Conference, and spoken and exhibited artwork at the VII Latin American Polychaeta Symposium (SILPOLY) at INVEMAR. In June 2026, I exhibited work under the title “El mar y el viento” at the socialization of Colombia’s Socio-Environmental Report and Marine Spatial Planning for Offshore Wind Energy, organized by EEMa Colombia.

In my Blog, I share ideas at the intersection of nature, science, technology, and art — including topics around nature-inclusive design, marine biodiversity, and offshore wind. In the Data Visualization section, I document projects where data analysis meets visual communication. In 2022, I graduated with honors from DS4A Colombia (Data Science for All, Correlation One).

Nature continues to be my greatest source of inspiration — as a scientist, as a researcher, and as an artist. I hope my work invites you to look a little closer.

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