Dorado in the Heart of the Coral

Dorado in the Heart of the Coral stems from the artist’s close connection with the seascape of Guanacaste, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica: a region where sport fishing, the movement of the currents and the richness of marine life form part of the daily experience of many in the area. The work centres on the mahi-mahi, known locally as dorado, an open-water fish whose presence is here transposed to an unexpected setting: the heart of a coral reef.

This alteration of the habitat does not seek a literal representation of nature, but rather a poetic composition. The dorado appears integrated amongst corals, marine vegetation and flashes of colour, creating an imagined encounter. The reef, a recurring theme in the artist’s silk scarves, reappears in this work as a space of refuge and beauty in constant transformation.

The piece combines paint with fragments of fabric and textured paste, creating a tactile surface that invites close observation. Through a palette of analogous shades of blues and greens, *Dorado en el Corazón del Coral* conveys the freshness, depth and movement of the marine world. It is a work that celebrates the vitality of the ocean and, at the same time, reflects a phase of material exploration within Fabiola De Ford’s artistic practice: a language in which paint, texture and fabric come together to create landscapes that can be experienced both through the eye and the imagination.