I'm Nayeli Lavanderos, a Mexican artist based in Portugal. I draw animals in black ink on paper — slowly, by hand, through a process rooted in observation, stillness, and intuition.

My work is shaped by growing up in Mexico — by its animals, its patterns, its way of seeing the natural world as alive and interconnected. I don't think of my drawings as illustrations of specific traditions, but as something that emerged from being raised in a place where meaning and beauty were woven through everyday life.

My path to this practice has been winding. I studied Graphic Design in Mexico City, then moved to Brooklyn for a master's in Motion Media Design. I spent years in New York's fast-paced design world, sharpening my visual storytelling, before moving to Portugal. Life here — ocean, light, space — invited a slower way of working. My practice shifted toward close observation, quieter marks, and more time with each piece.

The Power Animal series began during a period of personal transformation. It became a way of exploring animals as mirrors — for intuition, strength, grief, devotion, companionship — and as carriers of something we recognize but can't always name. At the heart of the work is the idea of the nahual, a concept from Mexican tradition: the animal that walks beside you, a quiet source of strength and reflection.

I've shown work in group exhibitions in New York and at Amilak Gallery in Lisbon, and presented my first solo exhibition, Sacred Power Animals, at Jardim Gallery in Ericeira in 2026. I continue to build a practice around original drawings, commissions, and occasional workshops — and toward a future of larger-scale work and deeper exhibition contexts.

What keeps me returning to the studio is something quieter than ambition — a curiosity about what animals hold, and what it means to draw them with love. Each piece is an attempt to meet that mystery with attention, and to make something that invites the viewer to slow down and observe.