“Lienzo de Piedras” / “Canvas of Stone” is a photographic journey through the Pool Tunich cave system of Quintana Roo, Mexico. These images were taken during a month-long expedition through the system, captured in a vibrant palette of light and shadow intended to evoke the qualities and values of the caves’ historical use and cultural significance. Photographs of cave features intermingle with a navigable projection of LIDAR point clouds that recreate the system in 3D.

The Maya viewed the cave as an entrance or portal to the Underworld, a real and mythological place associated with emergence and fertility. Today, these spaces exist in close proximity to large-scale infrastructure projects. Through a union of art and technology, “Canvas of Stone” is part of an ongoing effort to document and preserve this part of Mexico’s cultural heritage for posterity.

During course of his work in the region, Amador has collaborated with researchers at the Qualcomm Institute, and the stewards of the cave – Grupo Rio Secreto, with the support of El Centro Investigador del Sistema Acuífero de Quintana Roo (CINDAQ) and Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Fabio Esteban Amador is an archaeologist and a visual artist originally from El Salvador. By merging art and science he continually is crafting a visual language that infuses his multi-media art, murals, paintings, photography and short film. He studied fine arts at the Art Student League of New York and School of Visual Arts. He continued studies at Rutgers and earned a Master’s and Ph.D. in Mesoamerican archaeology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His doctoral research focused on excavating and mapping Maya sites across the states and regions of the Northern Yucatan peninsula and Quintana Roo, Mexico to investigate how groups established their identity through art and iconography. Later work has also included locations throughout Maya regions of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. He was founding member of OLAS (Latin American Underwater Archaeology Organization) and a research associate at INA (Institute for Nautical Archaelogy). Fabio Esteban has also operated as a program and science officer for the National Geographic Society and has contributed to National Geographic Mundo’s television series Mysteries of the Underworld. His work has been published and exhibited by the National Geographic Magazine, iWatch Magazine, Tres Tiempos Magazine, The NatGeo Museum in Washington, Museo de Antropología David J. Guzman in San Salvador, the International Center for the Arts in Spartanburg, SC and NatGeo’s online Explorer’s Journal.

Gallery QI would also like to acknowledge Scott McAvoy for his help towards producing a visualization of Pool Tunich, and Grupo Rio Secreto for partnering in capturing the data of cave system used in the project.