Kamel González Rojas
Painter, muralist, carver and cultural bearer of the Boruca people.
Kamel — a short film
Film by Sebastián Rivera
Born into the mask
Kamel, born Melvin González Rojas, is one of the most recognized contemporary artists of the Boruca Indigenous people of southern Costa Rica, with a history of national and international exhibitions of his paintings, murals and masks.
Among the Boruca, traditional mask-making is a way of life, closely tied to community history and cultural identity. Kamel’s father, Ismael González Lázaro, is considered the father of modern Boruca mask-making and received Costa Rica’s National Prize for Traditional Popular Culture (Premio Nacional de Cultura Popular Tradicional). At age nine, Kamel began learning to carve and paint the balsa wood masks under his father’s watchful eye.
Today he signs his work KRUA^DENKA — “the footprint of the jaguar” in the Boruca language. The jaguar walks through everything he makes: canvases, murals, masks, and the dances he helps keep alive.
From the mask to the canvas
Today, Kamel is widely regarded as one of the leading Boruca painters, having transitioned from masks to paintings and brought Boruca mythology and identity into contemporary Indigenous painting. In his words, his themes of spiritual imagery, Indigenous symbolism and mythological storytelling now fit better on canvas and larger spaces.
Throughout all of his work, the jaguar reigns supreme — appearing again and again as a symbol of power, ancestral memory, and the living presence of the forest.
Three generations of the mask
The knowledge Kamel carries did not begin with him. It came through the hands of his father, don Ismael, and it is already passing to the hands that come next.
More than an artist
Co-founder of the Boruca dance group Boruca Non Cuan Xá
Member of the Boruca heritage committee, safeguarding traditional knowledge
Member of the Kabru Rojc committee, organizing the Juego de los Diablitos
From Boruca to the world
Kamel’s gallery shows include Rainforest Masks of Costa Rica at the Museum of Botany and the Arts in Sarasota, Florida; Expotural at IFEMA in Madrid, Spain; several exhibits at the National Theater of Costa Rica; the Stone Spheres Festival; and the Festival Nacional de las Artes in San José. He was the first Boruca artist represented by the renowned international art gallery Galería Namú, his art has toured internationally with Identidad, Mito y Legado Ancestral, and he was the first Artist in Residence at Galería Kuni in Dominicalito, Costa Rica.
His mural I Am Jaguar anchors the city of Jacó, and several of his other murals adorn private and public spaces throughout Costa Rica. Today his work is sold exclusively through this site, directly from his workshop.
What others have written
Articles and features about Kamel, his art and his work defending Boruca cultural heritage.
“Behind the Mask: Art, Culture and Tribe” — Kamel’s talk in Pérez Zeledón
Local news outlet pzahora.com covered Kamel’s talk at Hotel Zima on September 26, 2026, where he shared how his Boruca heritage — its traditions, stories and symbols — shapes his contemporary work, offering a look at the artist beyond his paintings and masks.
The story behind the Guerreros del Sur away jersey
Costa Rican football club Municipal Pérez Zeledón unveiled its 2025/2026 away kit built around Boruca Indigenous figures, with the cultural artwork on the shirt designed by Kamel: “an honor to bring a cultural touch to the Guerreros del Sur jersey.”
Forum on the defense of Indigenous heritage and intellectual property in Costa Rica
Kamel spoke at a UNFPA / UNESCO forum as a Brunka artist and defender of Indigenous intellectual property.
Kamel’s Sarastro costume for La Flauta Mágica heads to a Washington, D.C. museum
The costume Kamel designed for Sarastro, the lead role in La Flauta Mágica (The Magic Flute) — reimagined with a Costa Rican, Indigenous lens for its July 2024 staging — was selected for an exhibition of costumes of the Americas representing Costa Rica at the prestigious Wilson House Museum in Washington, D.C.: “an honor for my art to represent my country, my Boruca people and my Brunkajc culture.” Produced with the Compañía Lírica Nacional, the Ministry of Culture and Youth, the National Theater, the National Museum and several embassies.
Melvin González Rojas — Cultural Directory of Costa Rica
Kamel’s official profile as painter and traditional artisan in the national cultural information system: “paintings that reflect an ancestral world invoking nature, jaguars, the spheres, mountains and rivers.”
KURA^DEN KA, the footprint of the jaguar
A profile on Kamel’s masks, paintings and the year he reinvented himself painting large-scale murals across the South Pacific of Costa Rica.
The emblematic mask of the Diablitos dance: “El Trueque”
A Teletica television segment visited Boruca and featured Kamel alongside fellow artisan Gilberto carving the traditional Diablitos masks, including “el trueque,” a design by Kamel showcased that week in Santo Domingo de Heredia.
K-mel González: a “jaguar” that leaves its mark
A profile on Kamel’s roots as a Boruca artist and educator, his name “Kuradenk” — the jaguar’s footprint — and his role co-founding the Non Cuan Xá indigenous dance group.
Melvin González Rojas “aka” Kuradenk
An early feature from the Spheres Festival in Palmar Sur, on Kamel’s beginnings beside his father don Ismael, master of the Boruca mask.
“I Am the Jaguar” — mural
Kamel’s mural documented on the world’s largest street-art map: “a representation of the free spirit of the Boruca people and their mystic culture.”
Artist profile — Melvin González Rojas
Kamel’s biography at the fair-trade gallery that has carried Boruca masks internationally.