Arrecife de Formas

A look back at Carlos Amorales’ residency and exhibition at Careyes Art Gallery

After five months of welcoming visitors into a world shaped by imagination, collaboration, and the sea, Arrecife de Formas by Carlos Amorales expo has officially come to an end at Careyes Art Gallery.

Presented as part of the Careyes Foundation Art Program, this landmark residency brought together internationally acclaimed Mexican artist Carlos Amorales and the communities of Costalegre in a creative journey inspired by the ocean’s ecosystems, stories, and enduring connection to everyday life.

The Careyes Foundation Art Program is a site-specific initiative rooted in environmental and community-based practice. Through free contemporary art workshops for children ages 9 to 14 and their families across the Costalegre region, the program creates meaningful opportunities for cultural participation while encouraging creativity, curiosity, and collective learning.

At the heart of Amorales’ residency was a series of collaborative workshops where children became active participants in the artistic process. Together with educators, families, and members of local fishing cooperatives, they explored the rich ecosystems of the Pacific coast through observation, conversation, drawing, and hands-on experimentation. The workshops invited participants to discover how scientific knowledge, oral histories, maritime folklore, and everyday coastal traditions intertwine to shape the region’s relationship with the ocean.

At the center of the project was the creation of a modular reef installation—a growing structure assembled through many hands and perspectives. The result was more than an exhibition: it became a shared reflection on the sea as a living archive of biodiversity, memory, and cultural identity.

The exhibition brought together these collective creations alongside new works by Amorales, offering visitors an immersive experience shaped by community participation and artistic vision. Developed with the participation of Kurimanzutto, the project also strengthened connections between Careyes and Mexico’s contemporary art landscape.

Carlos Amorales is recognized as one of Mexico’s most influential contemporary artists, with work exhibited at institutions including MoMA in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. His residency in Careyes demonstrated the power of art to create meaningful dialogue between people, place, and environment.

As we celebrate the closing of Arrecife de Formas, we also celebrate everyone who contributed to making it possible: the children, families, community members, collaborators, and visitors who helped bring this collective vision to life.

The Careyes Foundation Art Program continues to create opportunities for cultural participation through free contemporary art workshops for children and families across the Costalegre region. Projects like this are made possible through the support of donors who believe in the transformative power of creativity, education, and community.