Exploring our biodiversity: artist residency as a space for reflection

Abstract

This article documents the experience of a three-day artist residency with Mexican artist Erika Blancas, founder of the independent gallery Elementos Arte y Diseño, held in the state of Campeche, Mexico. The project took place in the surroundings of Laguna de Términos, one of the country’s most biodiverse and ecologically significant coastal ecosystems. Its main objective was to promote environmental awareness through art, inviting the local community to reflect on the region’s natural wealth and the urgency of its conservation. The residency included two participatory workshops: “Building a Reflection on Our Biodiversity,” which encouraged collective exploration of the ecological, cultural, and symbolic value of the environment; and “BIOS: An Encounter with Matter,” a sculptural workshop that employed natural materials to foster a dialogue between the body, matter, and territory. Both activities combined environmental education, contemporary artistic practices, and sensory engagement, creating a space where art, nature, and community converged. Through artistic practice, the residency proposed a sensitive and critical exploration of the environment using experimental techniques that integrated sculpture, ceramics, drawing, and design, addressing themes of identity, ecological memory, and material transformation. Through Elementos Arte y Diseño, Blancas seeks to consolidate a space for creation and reflection that reaffirms the relevance of art as a tool for dialogue, awareness, and collective action in response to contemporary socio-environmental challenges.