Paintings
For more than fifteen years Kamel has also painted in acrylic on canvas — the same jaguars, guardians and Boruca symbols, translated into color on canvas.
Florecitas
Florecitas (“Little Flowers”) is inspired by a Boruca lullaby about a warrior father who brings his little girl gifts from the mountain. Of all those gifts, it is the little flowers that shine brightest: they bloom around her, rest in her hair and open in the guardian’s hand.
The father’s face merges with the jaguar — the spirit that protects the Boruca people — as he watches over her. Watch the slow close-up, then look at the details below.
Coming up: Florecitas will be part of MAP/LAB 2026, a multidisciplinary lab and visual, plastic and poetic exhibition on mental health, non-violent masculinities and the link between art and human rights, in an alliance between the Municipalidad de San José, the Centro Cultural de España, the Embajada de España and Colectivo Arte por la Paz. Official opening: Thursday, October 29, 2026, 7:00–8:30 pm, Galería LAB, Centro Cultural de España in Costa Rica (El Farolito, Barrio Escalante, San José).
Watch a painting come to life
Mixing color on the palette, then building it stroke by stroke into a jaguar spirit face — the same fine linework and Boruca symbolism Kamel carries from mask to canvas. Watch the process, straight from the taller in Boruca.
Four paintings from Cenizas Vivientes at Galería 1084
Night of the Ashes, Spiritual Duality, AL^KRA — Boruca Warrior and The Voice of the Ancestors are now on view and available at Galería 1084 in Uvita. They appear first in the list below, marked with their gallery.
They are part of Cenizas Vivientes (Living Ashes), Kamel’s December show. He will also be the gallery’s Artist in Residence, with a grand opening on Saturday, November 28.
Commissions
Kamel accepts commissions for both paintings and masks. If you have a vision — an animal, a story, a place — write to him on WhatsApp and he will bring it to life on canvas or in wood.