11 handmade atarrayas, or fishing nets, created by four fishing communities in Mexico that face different environmental challenges, hang dramatically in MoMA’s second floor atrium. Look for atural and mythological figures appear on some of the nets: a shrimp; an eye representing Chalchiuhtlicue, an Aztec goddess associated with fresh water, childbirth, and sensuality; and the Aztec glyph atl, which, for Caycedo, “stands for a dignified rage, which inspires a lot of us who share dreams for change.”

Artist Carolina Caycedo continues to explore how art can draw attention to models of resistance to environmental threats, investigating the impact of hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure on rivers, lakes, and oceans throughout the Americas—and on the communities that depend on those waters. Histories of craft, resistance, and environmental activism converge in these delicate monuments to modes of living that exist in close relation to nature.