2022, 2025
Unique Work
Materials: agave fiber, natural pigments, ink, and cotton embroidery on cotton and jute 

beatrizmorales.squarespace.com

Dividing her time between Hidalgo and Berlin, Beatriz Morales combines an investigative, abstract-expressionist approach with fiber art and conceptual components, often realized in monumental installations. As part of her practice, the artist incorporates traditional, prehispanic dyeing techniques, both in her work with plant fibers as well as when painting on canvases. Morales draws on a wide range of media in her work, while at heart approaching her compositions from a painterly perspective. 

Where the Wild Things Grow is an epic, multimedia installation work that combines canvas, natural dye, and agave fibers to reflect the formation of the artist’s personal identity—and an attempt to honor the people and places who’ve helped shape her. Morales was born and raised in Mexico to a family with Lebanese heritage who worked with textiles. Within the work, the presence of textiles, which bewitchingly burst forth from the canvas, pay homage to her Lebanese roots, while the material—agave, colored with natural dyes from Mexico—is a direct reflection of her Mexican upbringing. And finally, Morales says, the organization of these disparate elements is informed by her German experience. The resulting work is a reflection of, and an homage to, all these different parts of her world. They are, in parallel, through their materiality and making, reminders of our connection and responsibility to Mother Earth and past, present, and future generations.

The larger scale elements were created in 2022, and are making their Berlin debut. As visitors meander through the work, they are enveloped, before emerging to find—almost as if discovering a hidden treasure—a new, handcrafted addition to Where the Wild Things Grow, made specially for the Berlin exhibition.