Cristina Ochoa

Art

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Ongoing Exhibitions:

Exposition name: Cosmic Seed Basket
Location: Somers Gallery
Opening: Saturday 12th July, 5 pm till late.

Description: Somers Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition Cosmic Seed Basket by Cristina Ochoa as part of the 10th anniversary of Somers Gallery. This exhibition is part of the installation ‘Cosmic Seed Basket’ commissioned by the Royal Botanical Gardens, Wakehurst as part of the Millennium Seed Bank on its 25th anniversary. The exhibition at Somers Gallery presents the process and documentation of the installation at Wakehurst along with other related Cosmic Basket Seed pieces.

Related external articles:

– Cosmic Seed Basket: Cristina Ochoa
https://somersgallery.com/the-cosmic-seed-basket

Exposition name: Cosmic Seed Basket
KEW GARDENS,
Location: Wakehurst Kew Susex. U. K.
4 July – 14 September 2025

Site Specific installation:

4 meters long, by 2.70 Hight by 2.20 wide
Bamboo, metal structure Natural dyed cotton fabrics
Sound from the Erythrina Americana Seed
Voice Juana Gonzalez Tlapacoyan, Veracruz, Mexico
Weaving seeds Yolanda Sanchez, Tlapacoyan Veracruz, Mexico
Juana González -Traditional healer- Tlapacoyan, Veracruz. Mexico
Eduardo Benítez -Sound of the seed- Sound engineer, Mexico City
Juan Ignacio Cinich – Architect- Tulum, México
Emily Jones, curator and production manager “Seedscapes” 25th anniversary Millenium Seed Bank. Kew Gardens, Wakehurst, UK
Set works, – Production structure building- Croydon, UK.
Claudia López -Production manager on site- Tlapacoyan; Veracruz. México
Production team, Tlapacoyan; Veracruz
Martin Pimentel – cultural touristic promoter, and Totonaca leader – Pablo López -cultural promoter, Tlapacoyan México

Special Thanks:

– Marleen Boshen. Interdisciplinary research fellow, RBG Kew
– Berito Kuwaruba, Spiritual Leader, Uwa people, Colombia.
– Guadalupe Corona, Grandmother, Traditonal Healer, Tetla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
– Tata Cristóbal Cojti. Aljib. Guatemala
– Don Valerio Canché. X-Meen Merida, Yucatán, Mexico
– Tiziana Ulian, Kew Gardens, Millenium Seed Bank
– Isela Rodríguez, Kew Gardens, UNAM. Mexico City
– María Chavez, Kew Gardens, UNAM, Mexico City
– Silvia Bacci Millenium Seed Bank Kew Wakehurst, UK
– Gabina Sol Quintas, Pronatura Coatepec, Veracruz.
– Javier Calderon, Somers gallery, London, UK.

Related external articles:

– This summer, we invite you to explore Seedscapes:
https://www.kew.org/wakehurst/whats-on/seedscapes

Cristina’s art expositions:

En-Chanted Garden
Tulúm

Exposition name: En-Chanted Garden by Azulik 
Location: Tulúm, México
Date: 2023 – Ongoing
Curator: Marcello Dantas

Description: More than an installation, it is for Cristina Ochoa a sanctuary of biodiversity, a vegetal pharmacy, a trans-disciplinary learning space, and a site for ancestral memory and ecological regeneration. Functioning as a temporal portal, the garden invites us to learn from Indigenous cosmogonies and reimagine collective futures in harmony with the rhythms of nature. It embodies ancestral technologies as tools for reconnection with the sacred. The garden is inhabited by diverse life forms—plants, fungi, lichens, pollinators, insects, birds, reptiles, bats—and enriched by the presence of Mayan spiritual leaders, x-meens, and herbalists from various traditions. Artists, artisans, scientists, and seekers converge here to share knowledge and cultivate dialogue between the mystical, the medicinal, and the natural world.

Related external articles:

– The Architect’s Newspaper:
SFER IK’s En-chanted Garden transforms the Mayan jungle into a living work of art

– Sfer Ik Museion:
The En-chanted Garden opens at new Sfer Ik open-air Museum in Tulum, México by Cristina Ochoa.

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Invocation to Tlazolteotl
Amsterdam, México City, Palenque

Exposition name: Invocation to Tlazolteotl
Location: P////AKT Foundation, Amsterdam
Date: 2023 – 2024
Curator: Masha Domracheva

Description: An installation composed of fabrics, soil, fruits, plants, and ritual offerings. Central elements include a suspended palm object, 52 watercolors depicting Mexica medicinal plants, and 52 watercolors of Mayan medicinal plants. The work also features seven paintings inspired by Tlazolteotl—the Aztec goddess of purification and transformation—culminating in a ritual action that activates the space. Centuries of witch-hunts in Europe and Colonial America have affected female and Indigenous knowledge preservation, distribution, and representation across the globe. For many years, practices originating in long-term reciprocal relationships with nature and based on a view of the land and water as gifts that must be cared for over generations have been suppressed.

Related external articles:

– Rewilding and Enchanting by P////AKT Foundation
https://www.pakt.nu/2024/afgep-akt-rewilding-and-enchanting/

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Readings from the Garden
Carrillo Gil Museum, México City

Exposition name: Readings from the Garden
Location: Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City
Date: 2nd September 2023
Curator: Vivian Abeshushan
Other artists: Mónica Nepote, Raquel Salgado, Carla Faesler y Verónica Gerber

Description: Participatory event within the exhibition “The Garden Has No Fences,” coordinated by writer Vivian Abenshushan. Women artists from diverse disciplines will gather in a “Circle of the Word” to present spoken or performed interventions. The conversation will be punctuated by artistic pieces throughout the exhibition space, including readings by Mónica Nepote, plant-based sound works by Cristina Ochoa, and butoh improvisation by Raquel Salgado. The event invites women writers, artists, poets, and ecofeminist audiences to engage in a shared exploration of body, language, and nature.

Related external articles:

– Lecturas y cuerpos desde el jardín, by Museo Carrillo Gil
https://museodeartecarrillogil.inba.gob.mx/evento/lecturas-desde-el-jardin/

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Steyregg-Festival der Regionen
Vienna

PHOTO: Cristina Ochoa 2023

Exposition name: Steyregg-Festival Austria 2023
Location: Steyregg-Festival, Vienna
Date: 2023

Description: Cristina Ochoa connects questions surrounding species extinction with herbalism and pharmacy, engaging with cultural myths and ceremonies as well as their interpretation and assimilation within communities. Her practice draws upon her academic background in fine art, cultural management, copyright, and Mexican art history, which she studied in Colombia and Mexico.

Related external articles:

– Steyregg-Festival Austria 2023
https://fdr.at/en/project/die-zukunft-beginnt-heute/

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Pharmakon: Street Herbaries
London, Vienna, Mexico City, Barcelona…

PHOTO: PHARMAKON AT SOMERS GALLERY 2023 LONDON

Exposition name: Pharmakon: Street Herbaries
Location: Multiple: London, Vienna, Mexico City, Barcelona…
Date: 2023

Description: Pharmakon explores the blurred boundaries between cure and poison, medicine and drug. Through a vibrant collection of more than 50 entheogenic plant specimens gathered from urban sidewalks across Colombia and Mexico—mounted on colorful papers—and a series of drawings and paintings, the work opens a critical dialogue around pharmacology, ancestral herbalism, and the political and spiritual dimensions of substances. Conceived as an experimental laboratory, the project reclaims Indigenous and popular knowledge systems, positioning the vegetal world as a site of healing, resistance, and psychotropical hope.

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Mirror Gardens Instalations
SOMA, Chapultepec

Exposition name: Mirror Gardens Instalations
Location: SOMA Auction, Chapultepec. México City.
Date: 2023

Description: interested in how cultural myths are produced and absorbed—whether as tools of manipulation and power, or as quests for identity and certainty. Her work explores a wide range of myth-making sources, from religion and fairy tales to advertising, social behaviors, clichés, gender, sex, and politics. Myths, in her view, are consumed and reproduced to the point of becoming routine. Her practice is multidisciplinary and examines desire as both a creative and destructive force, aimed at producing altered states and ruptures that lead to subjective, collective, and sometimes collaborative aesthetic experiences.

She studies how desire circulates as a form of value within the systems that shape human relationships, and how these dynamics often result in violence through processes of negotiation and representation. These forms are continuously drawn, redrawn, and imprinted as boundaries of human behavior. In addition to her artistic production, Ochoa has collaborated on curatorial, writing, and teaching projects. She completed the full educational program at SOMA and has been involved in initiatives such as Taller Multinacional. Since 2005, she has exhibited her work in museums, galleries, institutions, and independent spaces across Colombia, Mexico, and internationally.

Related external articles:

– Integrante PES: Cristina Ochoa. Article by SOMA Mexico:
https://somamexico.org/archivo/persona?id=1436&nombre=Cristina%20Ochoa

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The Hearth of the Forest
Medicine School Palace, UNAM

PHOTO: UNAM, 2023

Exposition name: The Heart of the Forest
Location: Palacio de la Escuela de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Date: Until September 2023

Description: Pharmakon explores the blurred boundaries between cure and poison, medicine and drug. Through a vibrant collection of more than 50 entheogenic plant specimens gathered from urban sidewalks across Colombia and Mexico—mounted on colorful papers—and a series of drawings and paintings, the work opens a critical dialogue around pharmacology, ancestral herbalism, and the political and spiritual dimensions of substances. Conceived as an experimental laboratory, the project reclaims Indigenous and popular knowledge systems, positioning the vegetal world as a site of healing, resistance, and psychotropical hope.

Related external articles:

– Cristina Ochoa: El corazón del monte
https://fdr.at/en/project/die-zukunft-beginnt-heute/

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Pharmakon – Actions at a distance
Jumex Museum, México City

Exposition name: Pharmakon – Actions at a distance
Location: Jumex Museum, Mexico City
Date: FEB – MAR 2022
Curator: Kit Hammonds
Other artists: Lorena Ancona, Oscar Cueto, Galia Eibenschutz, Calixto Ramírez, Rafiki Sánchez.

Description: More than an installation, it is a sanctuary of biodiversity, a vegetal pharmacy, a trans-disciplinary learning space, and a site for ancestral memory and ecological regeneration. Functioning as a temporal portal, the garden invites us to learn from Indigenous cosmogonies and reimagine collective futures in harmony with the rhythms of nature. It embodies ancestral technologies as tools for reconnection with the sacred. The garden is inhabited by diverse life forms—plants, fungi, lichens, pollinators, insects, birds, reptiles.

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Seeds Oracles
Tamayo Museum, México City

Exposition name: Seeds Oracle
Location: Tamayo Museum, México City
Date: 2022

Description: Cristina Ochoa presents an oracle crafted from corn and colorín seeds, drawing on ancient Mayan divination techniques and blending them with contemporary digital oracles commonly found online. Rather than simply displaying archival material or creating a new standalone piece, the artist merges and reinterprets two culturally distinct sources of symbolic knowledge—ancestral and digital—that have both played a vital role in her practice.

In parallel, she showcases photographs of seed capsules created during a recent residency in Tulum, which were later buried as part of a ceremonial seed consecration led by a Mayan elder. These images serve as the foundation for a personal and visual seed bank that Ochoa will continue to develop over time. As the seeds begin to germinate, she will expand the project with additional documentation and data, reflecting a layered process that encompasses natural growth alongside genetic, cultural, social, and spiritual dimensions.

Related external articles:

– The Backroom: Cristina Ochoa. By
https://www.museotamayo.org/thebackroom/cristina-ochoa

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Pharmakon: Pharmakos
Pereira Museum, Colombia

Exposition name: Pharmakon: Pharmakos
Location: Pereira Museum, Colombia
Date: Abr 2023

Description: Hosted at the Museo de Arte de Pereira—an institution dedicated to the promotion, education, and conservation of visual arts and cultural heritage—Pharmakon: Pharmakos explored the tension between cure and poison, delving into ancestral knowledge, ritual practices, and the symbolic use of plants. The exhibition formed part of Cristina Ochoa’s ongoing research into the political, spiritual, and ecological dimensions of psychoactive substances.

Related external articles:

– Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia:
https://museu.ms/museum/details/16876/museo-de-arte-de-pereira

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Comun Herbal Pot
Pereira Museum, Colombia

Exposition name: Comun Herbal Pot
Location: Pereira Museum, Colombia
Collaborations: Vivian Abenshushan, Hugo Tangarife and Oriana Cardona.
Date: Abr 2022

Description: We invited the assistants in a collective participatory action to cook together, to dye the fabrics with different kind of plants and vegetables. As a group production we shared, and cook the fabrics with the plants and enjoyed the smell and inhaled the vapors. The result was installed in the communal museum as an recovery space, where the smells of plants and fruits, took us in to our deepest emotions and memories.

Related external articles:

– Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia:
https://museu.ms/museum/details/16876/museo-de-arte-de-pereira

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Pharmakon: Earth Upside Down – Psicotropicalia Maya
Izamal, Yucatán

Exposition name: Pharmakon: Earth Upside Down – Psicotropicalia Maya
Location: Izamal, Yucatán. México
Institution: JUMEX Museum Extrawalls,
Curator: Kit Hammonds
Other artists: Lorena Ancona, Galia Eibenschutz & Erika Torres, Calixto Ramírez, Rafiki Sánchez.
Date: Abr 2022

Description: Cotton fabrics dyed in vapor with medicinal plants found in Izamal and Mérida  Dragon’s blood, achiote, chaya, ricino, muicle, achiote, bugamvilia, Jamaica, tronadora, tobacco, chicalote, damiana, tepezcohuite. Nine meters by seven meters by three meters.

Related external articles:

– Proyecto en Izamal, La tierra al revés. By Fundación Jumex
https://www.fundacionjumex.org/es/exposiciones/242-proyecto-en-izamal-la-tierra-al-reves

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Apothecary and consultation performance 
Tamayo Museum, Mexico City.

Exposition name: Apothecary and consultation performance 
Location: Tamayo Museum, México City
Curator: Kit Hammonds
Date: 2022

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Vegetal sound machine translator – Terence Máquina 
JUMEX Museum, Mexico City.

Exposition name: Vegetal sound machine translator – Terence Máquina
Location: JUMEX Museum
Collborators: Eduardo Vindiola  Sound design and instrumental production.
Date: 2021

Description: Cotton fabrics dyed in vapor with medicinal plants found in Izamal and Mérida  Dragon’s blood, achiote, chaya, ricino, muicle, achiote, bugamvilia, Jamaica, tronadora, tobacco, chicalote, damiana, tepezcohuite. Nine meters by seven meters by three meters.

Related external articles:

– Proyecto en Izamal, La tierra al revés. By Fundación Jumex
https://www.fundacionjumex.org/es/exposiciones/242-proyecto-en-izamal-la-tierra-al-reves

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Sound Plus Festival
Anahuacalli Museum, Mexico City

Exposition name: Sound Plus festival
Location: Anahuacalli Museum, Mexico City
Date: 2021

Description: Through speculation about communication with plants intelligence comes from the work in artistic and botanic workshops.

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Seeds time capsules
Quindío University, Colombia

Exposition name: Seeds time capsules
Location: Quindío University, Colombia
Date: Nov 2021

Description: As a surviving resource, the project proposal to teach and keep native seeds in different place of the world. The first experience was made in a workshop with art students at ´La montaña del sur seminar´ Quindío University and Banco de la República Armenia.

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Bad Flowers
Pedro Cano Workshop, Milpa Alta. Mexico City

Exposition name: Bad Flowers
Location: Pedro Cano Workshop, Milpa Alta. Mexico City
Date: 2021

Description: Sculptures for ritual. Ceramics at high temperature. Variables dimensions from 30 cm.

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CANTIERE Residency

Exposition name: CANTIERE Residency
Date: Oct – Nov 2021

Description: Solo show of PHARMAKON a social exhibition space, i a selection of previous works made during the last years, including an  aphotecary with herbal tinctures,  dyed fabrics with plants, glass pieces,  ceramics, herbaries, and plastic lits.

MENU:

SAN ISIDRO MOUSSE
With psylocibin mushrooms (recipe in page 2)
BHANG
Ganja milkshake
JAMAICAN BHANG
Ganja milkshake with Jamaica flower
MALVADA
Malva, Lemongrass, and gin
HEART OF THE WORLD
Lulo and old rum
MARTINI RUDA
Vodka tincture with Ruda and vermoth
GREEN FAIRY
Estafiate and Ruda tincture in mezcal
YAUHTLI
Tagetes lucida with tequila and orange
BLUE HUMMINGBIRD Huitzilopochtli
Tequila and psilocibe mushrooms, San isidro
FADUA
Chicha, fermented corn and pericón.
DAMIANA
Damiana with mezcal
VAMPIRE
Vodka, beetroot,and ginger
XTABAY
Chaya wáter with xtabentun liquour and honey

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PSYCHOTROPICAL DINNER BAR (PHARMAKON)
Gallery on top of Bacal

Exposition name: PHARMAKON: PSYCHOTROPICAL DINNER BAR
Location: Gallery on top of Bacal
In collaboration with: Chef Giusseppe Lacorazza
Date: Nov 2021

Description: The residency happened at the gallery on top of Bacal, a restaurant where I was able to work in collaboration with the bar and kitchen. Having the psychotropic beverages cocktails at the menu of the bar during two months. And collaborating with Giuseppe Lacorraza, with whom we shared the design of the menu and preparation of 5 times dinner as a proper sense experience. The main purpose of this events is to make them as rituals, this dinner is special because we were aware of the use of the ingredients, all organics and many taken straight from the garden and recipes we prepared, but also for the plates, we used that were many of them glass sculptures, giving to the dinner a ritualistic and both celebratory spirit.

Menu:

– Pericon, yauhtli with cempasuche soup.
– Pumpkin flowers quesadillas
– Sierra in maguey leaves with hoja santa with melissa and smashed Malanga
– Green salad with aromatic herbs, spirulina aztec alga, oregano orejon, amaranth, sage, verdolagas and lettuce, and season flowers, maravillas and mastuerzo.
– San Isidro Mushrooms mousse with passion fruit sauce and mascarpone ice cream.

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PSYCHOTROPICAL COCKTAILS (PHARMAKON)
Multiple Locations,  Mexico City.

Exposition name: PHARMAKON: PSYCHOTROPICAL COCKTAILS
Location: Nina Menocal Gallery, Arafura’s Garden, IMSS Restaurant.
In collaboration with: Chef Ramses Manek 
Date: 2021 – 2022

Description: The Psychotropical Cocktails project unfolded across several key venues in Mexico City throughout 2021, merging artistic experimentation with botanical rituals. At Arafura’s Garden in July, as part of a curatorial residency program, preparations began with cocktails and foods infused with psychotropical plants grown onsite. Later, in November, the project took form within the exhibition Nuevo Verdor at Nina Menocal Gallery, featuring signature drinks such as Cuba Libre (lulo and coca leaf with rum and soda), Blue Hummingbird – Huitzilopochtli (tequila with psilocybin mushrooms from San Isidro), and No Fear (pericón and mezcal with damiana and orange juice). Earlier in April, in collaboration with chef Ramses Manek, the experience also extended to a one-night event at IMSS Restaurant, where a curated menu of entheogenic recipes and psychotropical cocktails further explored the intersection of taste, plants, and expanded states of perception.

Cocktails Menu:

– Cuba libre: Lulo and coca leafs with Rum and soda.
– Blue hummingbird Huitzilopochtli: Tequila and Psilocibe Mushrooms, San isidro .
– No fear: Pericón and mezcal with damiana and orange juice.

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Natural Networks Psylocibe Mushrooms Recipes
Multiple Locations,  Mexico City.

Exposition name: Natural Networks Psylocibe Mushrooms Recipes
Location: Mexico City
Date: 2021

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Bhang
Multiple Locations,  Mexico City.

Exposition name: Bhang
Location: Multiple, México City
In collaboration with: Ariel Orozco
Date: 2021

Description: The Pharmakon Psychotropical Garden project brought together visionary art, ancient plant knowledge, and experimental cooking in a multisensory exploration of altered states and healing traditions. Among its highlights were the Paintings Under Four Grams, created during guided experiences with San Isidro mushrooms in collaboration with artists Ariel Orozco and Izq, capturing the intricate visions and emotional landscapes induced by psilocybin. Alongside this, the garden featured Cannabic Recipes, including Shiva’s Beverage, one of the oldest known cannabis preparations traced back to the Vedas over a thousand years before Christ. According to legend, Shiva, after a quarrel with his wife Pavarti, retreated to rest beneath a ganja tree; upon awakening, he was soothed and uplifted by the plant’s effect. Enchanted by its calming power, he incorporated it into all his recipes, starting with Bhang—a sacred drink traditionally made from crushed Indian nuts, yak milk, and cannabis. This preparation remains a ritual offering during Maha Shivaratri, the annual celebration in honor of the deity, and serves as a cultural anchor for the ongoing dialogue between plants, spirit, and creative expression explored in this psychotropical initiative.

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Forget Me Not
Nina Menocal’s Gallery, Mexico City

Exposition name: Forget Me Not
Location: Nina Menocal’s Gallery, Mexico City
Curator: Nancy Mookina
Date: Oct 2021

Description: Garden intervention with no me olvides plants at Nina Menocal’s Gallery in Mexico City, part of the exhibition Nuevo verdor, Curated by Nancy Mookina.

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Entreminas Garden
Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City

Exposition name: Entreminas Garden
Location: Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City
Curator: Mauricio Marcin 
Date: 2021

Description: A garden donated from my mini milpa and terrace collection was installed inside the museum exhibition, creating a living, interactive space. Visitors were invited to participate by exchanging plants and seeds, and by caring for a diverse selection of over 30 species—including passionflowers (Passifloras), Brugmansias, aloe, sugar cane, and more—transforming the exhibition into a communal act of cultivation, reciprocity, and shared stewardship.

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Praying For Corn Ceremonies
Tlaxcala & Nexquiquiapan, Texcoco. 

Exposition name: Praying For Corn Ceremonies
Location: Tlaxcala & Nexquiquiapan, Texcoco. 
Date: 2021 -2022

Description: As part of an ongoing research project on rituals and ceremonies rooted in the Indigenous cultures of Anahuac, I have actively participated in various sacred practices, including temazcal ceremonies and health brigades organized by Zapatista communities. This fieldwork has taken place primarily in the heartlands of Mexico, specifically in Tlaxcala, Nexquiquiapan, and Texcoco. Through these immersive experiences, I have been learning directly from the guardians of ancestral nahual knowledge. Central to this research is the act of “praying for corn,” a powerful expression of political, physical, and spiritual resistance—a struggle for food and medicinal justice led by those who have inherited millennia-old traditions. This work weaves together activism and spirituality, honoring corn not only as a vital crop but as a sacred being deeply tied to identity, territory, and survival.

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Pharmastar Sinapsis Game
Galeria del Agua Altzayanca. Tlaxcala

Exposition name: Pharmastar Synapsis Game
Location: Galeria del Agua Altzayanca. Tlaxcala
Dimensions: Variable dimensions, 31 cm x 31 cm. Plus 25  Chips
Date: 2021

Description: Synapsis is the process through which neurons communicate via neuro-transmitters produced by the body. This interactive piece explores how love emerges from brain chemistry. Each color represents a neurotransmitter: yellow (serotonin), orange (adrenaline), white (dopamine), and violet (oxytocin). When balanced, these chemicals create sensations of joy, empathy, desire, and well-being. When imbalanced, they can lead to issues like depression. Diet, habits, and emotions all influence this balance. Players begin with chips outside the board, like in Chinese checkers, symbolizing how external factors—habits, addictions, routines—affect our mental chemistry. This is more than a game; it’s a reflection on how love and well-being are deeply rooted in our biology and everyday choices.

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Ceremonial Sculptures & Plates
Galeria del Agua Altzayanca. Tlaxcala

Exposition name: Ceremonial Sculptures & Plates (Pharmakon)
Location: Galeria del Agua Altzayanca. Tlaxcala
Date: 2021

Description: This residency had two stages, where under the leading of the artist Rafael Cazares I made a series of pieces; plates and ceremonial sculptures and recycled glass pieces. In between the utilitarian and artistic. Part of the Project Pharmakon.

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Sketches for Cemonial Vases
Galeria del Agua Altzayanca. Tlaxcala

Exposition name: Ceremonial Sculptures & Plates (Pharmakon)
Location: Galeria del Agua Altzayanca. Tlaxcala
Date: 2021
Dimensions: Variable
Material: Clay, ceramics & glass

Description: Ceremonial Vases to consume sacred plants. Variable dimensions.

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Flower to Calm Down Pain
Private Collection

Exposition name: Flower to Calm Down Pain
Location: Private Collection  
Date: 2021
Dimensions: 1 m by  70 cm  
Material: Acrylic paint on cotton paper

Description: Ceremonial Vases to consume sacred plants. Variable dimensions.

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Salvia Divinorum
Guadalajara, Jalisco

Exposition name: Salvia Divinorum
Date: 2019 – 2020
Collaboration with: Gobelin Mexican Workshop
Lead: Jaime Ashida
Master Artisan: Abraham Flores
Dimensions: 2.40 meters by 2 meters
Material: Clay, ceramics & glass

Description: This tapestry, measuring 2.40 by 2 meters, was created between 2019 and 2020 in collaboration with the Gobelinos Mexicanos workshop in Guadalajara, Jalisco, under the direction of Jaime Ashida and woven on a vertical loom by master artisan Abraham Flores. Made entirely of natural wool, the piece is based on an original watercolor painting by myself and represents a collaboration with the studio, blending traditional textile craftsmanship with contemporary artistic expression.

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Arafura –  Garden of Psychotropical Hope
Guadalajara, Jalisco

Exposition name: Arafura –  Garden of Psychotropical Hope (Pharmakon)
Location: Popotla, Mexico City
Date: 2021

Description: Design and production of the garden as a living art work, from the star of the rebuilding of the house, now a cultural art center dedicated to residencies for art curators, artist and research in art and ecofeminism.  

Related external links:

PHARMAKON: Jardín de la Esperanza Psicotropical by Arafura MX
https://www.arafura.mx/pharmakon.html

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Virtual Museum Residency
Laboratorio Arte Alameda Museum, Mexico City

Exposition name: Virtual Museum Residency (Pharmakon)
Location: Laboratorio Arte Alameda Museum, Mexico City
Date: Mar – Apr 2021

Description: Pharmakon began just before the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was invited by curator Lucía San Román to develop a project in the garden of the Laboratorio de Arte Alameda (LAA) museum in Mexico City. However, due to the onset of the confinement, the project transformed into a virtual residency. From March to April 2021, we adapted the initiative into an online format, offering seminars and courses focused on medicinal plants and their cultural, therapeutic, and symbolic uses.

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Reciclotropical
Residencia Art Project, Playa del Carmen

Exposition name: Reciclotropical
Location: Residencia Art Project, Playa del Carmen
Type: Installations and cculptures.
Material: Dyed cotton in vapor and fabrics with the plants.
Date: Mar 2021

Description: Site specific process collecting plants and garbage, I also decided not to produce any residues.

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Spandemia
Cyclo DF, México City

Exposition name: Spandemia
Location: Cyclo DF, México City
Date: Mar 2021
Material: Dyed cotton in vapor and fabrics with the medicinal plants.
Producer: Cyclo DF

Description: Installation of a consultation room featuring hand-dyed cotton fabrics using plant-based pigments, accompanied by ceramic pieces and a curated apothecary of herbal preparations.

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Bioceno
Museo de la Cancillería, Mexico City

Exposition name: Bioceno
Location: Museo de la Cancillería, Mexico City
Date: Mar 2020
Curator: Jeannette Betancourt

Description: An immersive installation featuring cotton fabrics dyed with medicinal plants and accompanied by vapor vases designed for inhalation rituals. The aromatic steam carries the healing properties of pirul, eucalyptus, bougainvillea, pericón, cempasúchil, elderberry, horsetail, and orange blossom, evoking traditional cleansing practices for physical and spiritual renewal.

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Equinoctial Mini Milpa
México City

Exposition name: Equinoctial Mini Milpa
Location: México City
Date: Mar 2020

Description: The garden on the terrace of the building where I live began on March 21, 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. In response to the uncertainty and isolation, I decided to create a pandemic garden on the rooftop—a living experiment rooted in the ancestral model of the milpa. I planted a variety of edible vegetables, grains, fruits, and medicinal herbs: corn, beans, pumpkins, amaranth, passion fruit, pineapples, watermelon, potatoes, muicle, aloe, mastuerzo, onions, garlic, estafiate, vaporub, rosemary, sugarcane, sage, damiana, cedrón, jasmine, chili peppers, brugmansias, peyote, and marijuana, among more than 100 other species. This mini milpa has been continuously documented for over a year, showing how the garden evolves, grows, and produces through the seasons. With minimal resources, it has yielded several harvests, becoming an ongoing act of resistance, sustainability, and care. The compost used is made from our own organic kitchen waste, closing the cycle of nourishment and regeneration. Some of the equinoctial harvests have included pumpkins, tomatoes, beans, corn, beets, and amaranth—fruits of a small ecosystem cultivated in resilience and intention.

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Herbal Semiotics: Psychoactive Laboratory
Multiple locations: México City, Guadalajara

Exposition name: Herbal Semiotics: Psychoactive Laboratory
Multiple Location: México City, Guadalajara
Date: 2019 – 2020

Description: Fitoactive Laboratory / Psychoactive Laboratory is a series of in-person and virtual botanical art workshops developed and presented in various venues, including PAOS Guadalajara (2019), Huerto Roma Verde (2020), and TodxsParaTodxs (2020). These sessions explore the intersection of art, medicine, and food through hands-on learning with medicinal plants, edible vegetables, and ancestral recipes. Participants learn to prepare herbal infusions aimed at relaxation, immune system support, energy enhancement, and anxiety relief, as well as functional remedies using natural ingredients. Some of the featured preparations include digestive restoratives with papaya seeds and pepper, elderberry jams, and invigorating infusions made from turmeric, ginger, coca leaves, pineapple peel, and lemongrass—offering a practical reconnection with plant knowledge for healing and nourishment.

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Artificial Paradises: Bad Flowers
Milpa Alta, Mexico City

Exposition name: Artificial Paradises: Bad Flowers
Location: Pedro Cano’s Workshop (QEPD) Milpa Alta, Mexico City
Type: Sculptures of flowers on vanished ceramics at high temperature
Dimensions: Variable dimensions between 15 cm by 7 cm to  23 cm by  17 cm
Producer: Pedro Cano (RIP)
Date: 2019 – 2020

Description: Bad Flowers is a ceramic sculpture series featuring flowers, peyotes, and snakes crafted in high-temperature glazed ceramics. Ranging from 15 x 7 cm to 23 x 17 cm, these pieces were produced between 2019 and 2020 at the late Pedro Cano’s workshop in Milpa Alta, Mexico City.

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Street Herbaries
México & Colombia

Exposition name: Street Herbaries
Locations: Colombia y México: Bogotá, Pereira, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Cuernavaca, Nayarit, Ciudad de México, among others…
Type: Collection of vegetables samples, paintings and drawings.
Materials: Collage on paper dry part of plants, flowers and leafs
Dimensions: 21 cm x 28 cm & 1 m by 70 cm
Date: 2019 – 2020

Description: Explores the intersection of art, botany, and consciousness through a collection of vegetable samples, paintings, and drawings. The series Street Herbaries includes over 50 samples of entheogenic plants gathered from sidewalks in cities across Colombia and Mexico—Bogotá, Pereira, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Cuernavaca, Nayarit, and Mexico City—mounted on colored paper sheets (21 x 28 cm), produced between 2019 and 2020. Plants such as Brugmansia, Ginseng, Ipomoea, Argemone Mexicana, and the Lisergic Rose are featured. The work HER (2021) continues this exploration with a 1 x 0.70 m collage composed of dried plant parts, flowers, and leaves collected from the streets, arranged on paper as a reflection on psychotropical biodiversity and everyday botanical encounters.

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American Goddesses Xtabay
Private Collection  

Exposition name: American Goddesses Xtabay
Locations: Private Collection
Type: Paintings
Materials: Acrylic paint on cotton paper, Color pencil on paper, paintings and drawings, watercolor.
Dimensions: Multiple
Date: 2019 – 2020

Description: The Mayan legend of the Ololiuhqui or Xtabentún flower tells of two sisters: Xtabay, kind, generous, and misunderstood for her open-heartedness, and Utz-Colel, praised for her purity but inwardly cold and envious. When Xtabay died, her body released a sweet fragrance, and from it bloomed a delicate white flower—the sacred Xtabentún, used ritually by the Maya for its psychoactive seeds containing LSA. She became a compassionate goddess, guardian of desperate souls. Jealous, Utz-Colel vowed that a more beautiful flower would grow from her body. Upon her death, a stunning cactus appeared, but with a foul odor—the Tsacam, reflecting her true nature. Furious, she pleaded with the Lords of the Underworld and was allowed to return in Xtabay’s form, but as a demon. Since then, she appears beneath the Ceiba tree, luring intoxicated men into the underworld. The legend contrasts superficial virtue with genuine compassion and honors the spiritual power of love and generosity.

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Psychotropical Apothecary (Pharmakon)
Different art spaces 

Exposition name: Psychotropical Apothecary  (Pharmakon)
Type: Different art spaces
Date: 2020

Description: Mobile and permanent installation that brings together tinctures, micro-dosing practices, and live performance in an experiential and participatory format. Since its inception in 2020, it has been presented in various art spaces, inviting more than 3,000 participants—99.9% of whom have reported positive effects. This ongoing project offers a curated selection of plant-based preparations designed to heal the body, expand consciousness, and support neuro-hacking. Drawing from ancestral herbal knowledge and contemporary experimentation, the apothecary includes tinctures and extracts of Calea zacatechichi (the “herb of dreams,” used to induce vivid dreaming and activate the pineal gland), Psilocybe cubensis Mexicana (San Isidro mushrooms, known for boosting serotonin.

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Future Goddess
Private Collection  

Exposition name: Future Goddesses
Type: Nano counter ADN reader.
Materials: Biotech
Date: 2019

Description: The Mayan legend of the Ololiuhqui or Xtabentún flower tells of two sisters: Xtabay, kind, generous, and misunderstood for her open-heartedness, and Utz-Colel, praised for her purity but inwardly cold and envious. When Xtabay died, her body released a sweet fragrance, and from it bloomed a delicate white flower—the sacred Xtabentún, used ritually by the Maya for its psychoactive seeds containing LSA. She became a compassionate goddess, guardian of desperate souls. Jealous, Utz-Colel vowed that a more beautiful flower would grow from her body. Upon her death, a stunning cactus appeared, but with a foul odor—the Tsacam, reflecting her true nature. Furious, she pleaded with the Lords of the Underworld and was allowed to return in Xtabay’s form, but as a demon. Since then, she appears beneath the Ceiba tree, luring intoxicated men into the underworld. The legend contrasts superficial virtue with genuine compassion and honors the spiritual power of love and generosity.

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Garden of Hope
San Francisco, Nayarit

Exposition name: Garden of Hope
Type: San Francisco, Nayarit
Collaboration with: Neil Pyatt
Date: 2019

Description: Evolved into multiple living spaces during the LILHA Residency Program in Nayarit, Mexico, in 2019. Together with the local community of San Francisco, we revitalized four separate gardens through a collaborative planting process. Plants were gathered through donations and exchanges, with contributions from participants who responded to open calls to join the collective effort of planting and regeneration.

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A Study About Brugmansias
Private Collection

Exposition name: A Study About Brugmansias
Materials: Water color and Brugmansia water on cotton paper   
Dimension: 50 cm by 40 cm & 70 cm by 90 cm
Date: 2019

Description: Evolved into multiple living spaces during the LILHA Residency Program in Nayarit, Mexico, in 2019. Together with the local community of San Francisco, we revitalized four separate gardens through a collaborative planting process. Plants were gathered through donations and exchanges, with contributions from participants who responded to open calls to join the collective effort of planting and regeneration.

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Garden of Oblivion
Private Collection

Exposition name: Garden of Oblivion
Type: Garden Intervention

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Pharmakon
Centre Cultural Maristany, Barcelona

Exposition name: Pharmakon
Location: Centre Cultural Maristany, Barcelone    
Date: 2016
Curators: Juan Canela, Andrea Novoa  and Verónica Valentini

Description: PHARMAKON is an ongoing artistic research project exploring the boundaries between pharmacy and the use of psychoactive substances. It opens a critical dialogue around the concepts of “drug” and “medicine,” functioning as an experimental laboratory that investigates the dual nature of healing and toxicity—where cure and poison often coexist.

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In Vino Veritas
Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California

Exposition name: In Vino Veritas
Location: Mexico City, Paris
Collaboration between: Florian Sumi, Escougnou Cetraro gallery from Paris and Muebles Sullivan.
Curator: Emanuela Ines Dunand
Date: 2016

Description: Installation of cotton sheets hand-painted with wine, measuring 3 meters by 1.5 meters, created and exhibited in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexico, in 2016. The work explores themes of ritual, transience, and sensory memory through the organic interaction between textile and fermented pigment.

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Practical Paganism
Mexico City, Paris

Exposition name: Practical Paganism
Location: Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California
Date: 2016

Description: Curated by Emanuela Ines Dunand, in partnership with Galerie Escougnou-Cetraro (Paris) and Muebles Sullivan (Mexico City). The 100-square-meter space functioned as an interactive laboratory featuring collections of plants, mushrooms, hydrolats, and bacterial cultures engaged in microbial “battles”—such as yogurt vs. cheese or yeast interactions. Additional chemical and botanical pairings included peyote and nutmeg, sotol and serpent, rosemary, salvia divinorum, tobacco, ants, eucalyptus, and more. Visitors were invited to observe and even consume some of the experimental preparations, activating the installation as a participatory space of fermentation, transformation, and sensory inquiry. The second part of the project, titled Magic Substances, presented a series of experiments involving biological and botanical agents to explore the creative and transformative forces of nature. Rooted in daily life and spiritual inquiry, the work highlights how bacteria and plants carry generative power, revealing new understandings of interspecies relations. Ochoa and Sumi approach transformation as both biological process and metaphysical potential, blending scientific experimentation with mythology, folk wisdom, and reflections on biopolitics. The installation invites reflection on the deep interconnectedness of life, suggesting that transformation—at every level—is essential to awareness, healing, and creation.

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Ants Trap
Rosario, Argentina

Exposition name: Ants Trap
Location: Casa Espacio de Obra. Rosario, Argentina
Type: Video Installation.
Date: 2015

Description: This experiment was designed to observe the behavioral response of ants to a concentrated source of sugar. A glass vase filled with sugar was placed on the terrace of the house where we were in residency. Over the course of two days, a camera captured the evolving activity: at first, two ants arrived and quickly died, but soon after, many others followed. Eventually, larger ants appeared and began organizing the smaller ones, forming a coordinated effort—an ant “army”—working together to lift the glass and extract the sugar. The footage even reveals what resembles a council or gathering of ants beside the vase, suggesting strategic decision-making. The piece draws parallels to human social and political organization, while also hinting at the stimulant effect of sugar and its impact on collective behavior.

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Paramar
Rosario, Argentina

Exposition name: Paramar
Location: Casa Espacio de Obra. Rosario, Argentina
Type: Video Installation: Glass cup filled with sugar and ants.
Dimension: 15 square meters
Date: 2015

Description: This video installation consists of a projection on water, plants, and found objects sourced directly from the Paraná River in Rosario, Argentina. The footage features everyday scenes of people gathered along the riverbank, sharing and drinking yerba mate, capturing a moment of communal ritual and connection to place. Installed over a 15-square-meter area, the work was presented at Casa Espacio en Obra in Rosario in 2015, blending natural elements with moving image to evoke a sensory, site-specific reflection on social and ecological relationships.

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The Miraculous Recipe
Pereira Colombia, Mexico City & Monterrey

Exposition name: The Miraculous Recipe
Location: Mexican American Institute of Relations. Monterrey, México. | Mauricio Badillo’s Garden, Mexico City. | Pereira Art Museum, Pereira, Colombia.
Date: 2011

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The Taking of the Tea
Salon Regional de Artistas

Exposition name: The Taking of the Tea
Location: Salon Regional de Artistas
Date: 2009

Description: The performance features a character resembling a pin-up housewife who serves coca and poppy cakes along with tea, playfully subverting traditional notions and stigmas surrounding the consumption of coca. By presenting these substances in a domestic, almost nostalgic context, the work reimagines their cultural roles and invites reflection on normalization, colonial narratives, and plant agency. Presented at the Salón Regional de Artistas under the curatorship of Mariángela Méndez and Verónica Wiman.

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Sugar Forest
Animation and Sculptures

Exposition name: Sugar Forest
Type: Animation and Sculptures
Materials: Animation and sculptures with sugar packages.
Date: 2008

Description: Sugar Forest (2008) is a visual exploration combining animation and sculpture, constructed entirely from commercial sugar packages. The project reflects on mass consumption, the artificiality of processed food, and the industrial aesthetics of sweetness. Through the transformation of a mundane product into an imaginative forest landscape, the work critiques global sugar economies while evoking both nostalgia and discomfort. 

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Sweet Junkie
Photo, print on vinyl

Exposition name: Sweet Junkie
Type: Photo, print on vynil
Date: 2007

Description: Sweet Junkie (2007) is a photographic work printed on vinyl, depicting a character in the midst of a sugar overdose, blurring the line between pleasure and addiction. Through its exaggerated portrayal, the piece critiques the normalization of excessive sugar consumption and its effects on the body and psyche, transforming sweetness into a visual metaphor for dependency. Dimensions are variable, adapting to different exhibition contexts.

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