Invisible Currents: Supporting Material
This webpage accompanies my application to Arts Council England for Invisible Currents. It brings together research materials, examples of previous work and information about the artists, venues and organisations involved.
Part 1: documents The Cenote Ring, my previous ACE-funded project, demonstrating how research developed through painting, moving image, sound, installation and live performance.
Part 2: introduces Invisible Currents, including its research, creative approach, collaborators and confirmed programme.
Part 1: Previous ACE-funded project
The Cenote Ring
The Cenote Ring explored the geological, ecological and cultural significance of the underground bodies of water surrounding the Chicxulub impact site in Yucatán, Mexico. Supported by Arts Council England, the project developed through painting, moving image, sound, installation and live performance.
The project demonstrates my experience of transforming long-term research into an ambitious interdisciplinary body of work, coordinating international collaborators and adapting the work for different audiences, venues and cultural contexts.
Performance at Stone Nest
In May 2025, The Cenote Ring was presented at Stone Nest, a former Welsh chapel in London’s West End known for contemporary performance, experimental music and live art.
The sold-out presentation brought together painting, moving image, spatial sound, costume and live performance. More than 300 people experienced the project across the exhibition and performance programme. Its success led Stone Nest to invite me to return with a more ambitious presentation of Invisible Currents.
The project was developed through sustained collaboration with artists working across sound, performance, choreography, costume, voice and digital technologies. Featured collaborators included Bon Music Vision, Gabrielle Venguer, Pierre Babbage, María Mónica Gutiérrez and Costas Kazantzis.
The Cenote Ring continued through a six-month exhibition commissioned by HS Projects at 5 Howick Place, London, from June to December 2025. This presentation allowed the paintings, moving image and sound to exist beyond the live performance and develop a longer relationship with audiences. HS Projects provided curatorial guidance, production support, exhibition space and guided visits.
International Presentations + Other Iterations +
International Presentations + Other Iterations +
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![Paola Estrella V&A East]()
V&A East
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![Paola Estrella Art Week Mexico]()
Art Week Mexico
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MIRA Art Fair, Paris
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CCA Goldsmiths
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Studio Berlin
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Metamorphika
Part 2: A new interdisciplinary project
Invisible Currents
Invisible Currents takes La Zona del Silencio in northern Mexico as its point of departure: an ecologically fragile desert where scientific research, telecommunications, oral histories and mythology have produced conflicting understandings of the same landscape.
The project will develop through ten mixed-media paintings, a moving-image work, an original sound composition, live performance and a freely accessible online archive. Rather than documenting the territory, the work translates its multiple histories and interpretations through image, sound and embodied experience.
Arts Council England support will enable this research to be developed and first experienced in England through collaboration between UK-based creatives, Latin American artists who have established their practices in London, and contributors in Mexico.
Zona del Silencio
Field research in Durango, Mexico
Field research in Durango in 2026 established the project’s visual, ecological and cultural foundations.
During the visit, I spent time in the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, spoke with local people and collected visual and audio material from the landscape. I also met Frida de la Peña, daughter of Harry de la Peña, the scientist and former NASA employee who named the area Zona del Silencio in the 1970s.
The research brought together direct observation, local knowledge, family history and the stories that continue to shape perceptions of the territory.
Partners and Collaborators
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Estudio Nuk residency
Residency and cultural exchange in Mérida
A confirmed, separately supported residency at Estudio Nuk in Mérida will provide one month of concentrated development in early 2027.Hosted by Estudio Nuk and supported by Projekt, the residency connects creatives from the UK and Mexico through collaboration, cultural exchange and making. It will provide studio space, accommodation, production support and opportunities to test how the field research can be translated into paintings, moving image, sound and performance.
The residency coincides with an important period of contemporary cultural activity in Mexico and strengthens the exchange between the project’s Mexican research context and its development in England.
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Production at Studio Smithfield
Development in London
The main production phase will take place at Studio Smithfield in Farringdon, London, from November 2026 to April 2027.Here, the research will develop into ten mixed-media paintings, including four large-scale works, alongside moving image, sound and performance elements. Studio Smithfield will also host the launch of the online archive and a public conversation connecting artists, researchers and audiences in England and Mexico.
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Creative Collaborators
Artists developing Invisible Currents
Invisible Currents brings together practitioners who have established professional practices in London alongside collaborators in Mexico.Bon Music Vision — original sound composition and sound production
Julieth Lozano — voice and live performance
Gabrielle Venguer — costume design and production
Fernando Aznar — performance development and live performance
Alejandro Villa — visual and performance development
Jesse May Fisher — moving-image editing and colour grading
Malgorzata Liziecka — performance and live-programme production
Beril Yavuz — lighting design
Confirmed UK programme
Invisible Currents is supported by a network of venues and organisations contributing space, curatorial knowledge, production support, marketing and audience connections.
Stone Nest, London
A three-day exhibition and two live performances will bring together the paintings, moving image, sound, costume and performance.
Studio Smithfield, London
Studio Smithfield will support production and host the launch of the online archive, public conversation and livestream in June 2027.
Orleans House Gallery, Richmond
A two-month solo exhibition will allow the work to be adapted for a gallery context and develop a longer relationship with local audiences beyond central London.
Diasporas Now
Diasporas Now will support the livestream, digital promotion and continued development of the freely accessible online archive.
Public programme
The public conversation and archive will include contributions from curator Pita Arreola, artist and publisher Pedro Resendez, and artist Frida de la Peña, whose family history is directly connected to La Zona del Silencio.