PATIO LAK NAJ / José Luna

In Patio Lak Naj, José Luna turns quiet, overlooked corners of the city into sites of ecological imagination. His ceramic sculptures—resembling clusters of dry leaves, branches, and discarded objects—serve as stations for urban life: resting places, shelters, and reservoirs for the flora and fauna that persist in the cracks of concrete landscapes.

Rooted in his ongoing interest in objects we no longer use, Luna’s practice investigates our habits of consumption and disposal. He works with the overlooked—things left behind, broken, deemed obsolete—not to restore their function, but to reframe their value. Through sculpture, these forgotten forms become active again, charged with new symbolic and ecological potential.

The project is deeply grounded in the urban landscape of Mérida, Yucatán, where spontaneous vegetation still pushes through sidewalks and patios, and native species coexist with domestic and introduced animals. In recent decades, however, the growing tendency to cement over gardens and remove trees…