ARTURO KAMEYA

Early Years

Kameya grew up in the suburbs of Lima during the 1990s, a period marked by social and political upheaval in Peru. He received his BFA from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima in 2008 and later completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, in 2021. Now based in Amsterdam, Kameya continues to draw on his Peruvian heritage and lived experiences, often reflecting on the distance and connections between his homeland and his current context.

Arturo Kameya Artworks

Kameya’s contemporary art practice encompasses painting, installation, film, and printmaking, creating immersive environments that connect disparate historical events, urban mythologies, and fragments of everyday life. His works are characterised by gentle forms, soft pastel and muted colours that evoke both nostalgia and critical reflection.

Memory, Myth, and Urban Experience

Kameya’s art often begins with memories from his childhood in Lima, family traditions, and elements of Peruvian popular culture. Works like Horoscope (2020) reference the ‘Chicha’ music subculture and vernacular architecture, while integrating sci-fi imagery and Andean iconography. Through these references, Kameya creates ‘living architectures’ of experience where personal and collective histories intersect.

Socio-Political Narratives and Installations

Kameya’s installations frequently examine the myths and narratives that shape different versions of Peruvian history, embracing the contradictions and complexity of knowing a place intimately. His large-scale arrangements of paintings, objects, and videos create environments that feel both familiar and unfamiliar, inviting viewers to reflect on the universal themes of displacement, identity, and the aftermath of colonialism.

Collaboration and Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Kameya often collaborates with artists such as Claudia Martínez Garay, exploring shared questions of cultural identity, memory, and the legacy of coloniality in Peru. His practice is inspired by thinkers like Édouard Glissant, who emphasise the fluidity of identity and the importance of dialogue between cultures.

Awards and Accolades

• De Wolvecampprijs, Netherlands (2024)
• Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Residency, Amsterdam (2021)

Exhibitions

Arturo Kameya has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at important institutions. Below is a selection of exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions

• The moon wanted to be the sun, but it was too late to change, GRIMM, Amsterdam (2025)
• Opaque Spirits, Marres, Maastricht (2024)
• Los Ovnis, GRIMM, New York (2023)
• Drylands, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (2021–2022)
• Grandma’s Cooking Recipes, GRIMM, Amsterdam (2021)

Group Exhibitions

• Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, Alone Time Gallery, New Orleans (2024–2025)
• 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo (2023)
• We, on the Rising Wave, Busan Biennale, South Korea (2022)
• Soft Water Hard Stone, New Museum Triennial, New York (2021)

More Reading

Kameya’s practice has been featured in Ocula Magazine, which notes: ‘Kameya’s work feels both familiar and unknown at the same time. Yet all elements seem to relate. They find each other in a carefully composed idiom constructed by gentle looking forms and by soft pastel and grayish, slightly muted, colors’.

Arturo Kameya FAQs

Ocula | 2025