Resident artist at Gasworks
[07.01—23.03.2026]
London, UK

Omar Castillo Alfaro creates immersive installations with earth, clay, beeswax, candles and bird feathers that reactivate pre-Hispanic mythologies. Interested in reviving a Mesoamerican futurism, he often uses ancestral techniques such as stone-carving and embroidery which have been passed down by his family in San Lorenzo Sayula, Mexico. Using this history, he examines and excavates the colonial processes that have continuously shaken and fragmented his native region in the state of Hidalgo in Mexico, a Nahuatl-Otomí region.

At Gasworks, Omar will further develop his Amantecas project using a feather art technique which is inherited from pre-Hispanic and colonial Mexico. He will visit institutions that house pre-Hispanic objects and historical texts with the aim to produce new sculptures and a new linguistic sound piece.

Omar Castillo Alfaro's residency is part of Magnetic, a joint Franco-UK initiative under the umbrella of Fluxus Art Projects that brings together ten institutions to create a network of artist residencies in French regions and UK nations.

Magnetic is supported by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, the Institut français, French Ministry of Culture, French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales/Wales Arts International, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the British Council.


[Video Interview] Artist in residence at Gasworks © Peter Otto, courtesy by Gasworks