Mariana Kameta

In 2017 I went to a very small town called Juluchuca in Guerrero, Mexico, the most dangerous state in the country on that year. My job was to teach children and teenagers and work at an organic farm. Every morning I’d see the sunrise and the dogs playing with a coconut shell. In the afternoons, my landlord would come with freshly picked coconuts from the backyard and open them with a machete, exactly at 5 pm, pigs and chickens would gather around my house to feast on the leftovers. This sensation of peace was contrasted with black polarized trucks pulling in my driveway, Narcos hiding from the feds and later on with the dead of my closest friend there. In this piece, I wanted to showcase the photos I took during this period in contrast with the drawing of my 1st and 2nd year of elementary school students, as a tribute to the children lost on the war on drugs in Mexico since 2012.

Mariana Kameta is Japanese descendant from Mexico City. She graduated as an industrial designer and worked for brands such as Pepsico and Starbucks Latin America. After quitting her job and starting all over again, she worked promoting Japanese culture in Mexico and volunteering in different social innovation projects.

She started her art career after receiving the “Dream Come True Project” scholarship by Nippon Foundation to pursue a master’s degree in Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts. In her artwork, she explores the conditions of being human and its relationship with the environment, constantly experimenting with materials and processes. She has been awarded with the Salon du Plantain Award and Muni Art Award Grand Prix 2022.