Aqua Catrina · Art · Tulum
Aqua Catrina: How Mexican Art Found a New World Beneath the Water
Aqua Catrina began as a creative idea between artists. Today, it is an immersive experience in Tulum.
The project brings together Mexican tradition, underwater photography, fashion, nature, and mermaid artistry.
The Aqua Catrina underwater experience began with one question: What would happen if the Mexican Catrina entered the mystical waters of Tulum?
The answer became much more than a photoshoot. It became a new way to experience Mexican art and personal transformation.
The Origin
The Idea That Started It All
The story of Aqua Catrina began in 2023.
At the time, makeup artist Alejandro Su was working with his client and creative collaborator, Jael Rivera.
Jael was developing her underwater skills. She was also completing her training as a mermaid.
During one conversation, Jael suggested creating a Catrina photoshoot beneath the water.
Alejandro immediately saw the artistic potential of the idea.
However, he believed that the concept could become something greater than one photoshoot.
Instead, Alejandro proposed creating a complete experience and developing it as a long-term artistic project.
As a result, that first conversation became the foundation of Aqua Catrina.
In 2024, the team formally registered the project. Aqua Catrina now had its own identity and creative direction.
Artistic Evolution
Leaving the Comfort Zone
Alejandro Su has created Catrinas for many years.
His work draws inspiration from Día de Muertos, Mexican culture, fashion, and contemporary art.
However, taking his work underwater created an entirely new challenge.
A studio offers controlled light, stable movement, and direct communication.
Underwater, every element changes. Light moves, fabrics float, colors shift, and expressions become more difficult to control.
Therefore, Aqua Catrina pushed Alejandro beyond his usual creative environment.
He did not want to place a traditional Catrina inside the water.
Instead, he wanted to create a new character from the beginning.
This character needed to belong naturally to the jungle, the water, and the cenotes of Tulum.
Two Worlds Become One
Between the Catrina and the Mermaid
Aqua Catrina combines two powerful figures: the Mexican Catrina and the mythical mermaid.
The Catrina represents cultural memory, identity, and transformation.
It also reflects Mexico’s unique relationship with life and death.
In contrast, the mermaid represents freedom, fluidity, mystery, and a deep connection with water.
Together, these figures create a new artistic character.
Aqua Catrina is not simply a Catrina underwater. She is also not a traditional mermaid.
She exists between both worlds.
Water guides her movements. Her costume floats without gravity, while her makeup changes with the light.
Fashion and Character Design
Creating the First Aqua Catrina
The team develops every Aqua Catrina as a complete visual concept.
First, the team defines the story, environment, and personality of the character.
Next, they develop the makeup, costume, headpiece, colors, textures, and movements.
For the original character, Aqua Catrina collaborated with Mexican fashion designer Ana Gia.
The goal was to connect authentic Mexican fashion with the natural environment of Tulum.
Ana Gia combines craftsmanship, cultural identity, and contemporary fashion.
Her work has appeared in fashion events, editorial projects, Fashion Week, and Vogue-related presentations.
The costume was never treated as a simple accessory.
Instead, every layer, texture, and shape became part of the character’s story.
The Original Character
The Leopard Catrina
The team developed the first visual concept around the Leopard Catrina.
The leopard represents strength, instinct, elegance, and a connection with the jungle.
This identity also connects the character with Tulum’s tropical landscape and mysterious cenotes.
Therefore, the makeup, costume, and location needed to feel like one complete environment.
The final character appears to emerge from the jungle before returning to the water.
The Jungle
Texture, color, roots, instinct, strength, and physical presence.
The Cenote
Silence, reflection, transformation, movement, and another world beneath the surface.
Behind the Transformation
Makeup Created for the Water
Approximate time required for the complete artistic makeup.
Face, neck, chest, arms, hands, and connecting details.
Keeping the makeup defined and intense beneath the water.
Makeup created one of the project’s greatest technical challenges.
A complete application takes approximately one hour and thirty minutes.
The design can cover the face, neck, chest, arms, and hands.
Because of this, the participant becomes a complete artistic character.
The team uses alcohol-based makeup because it offers greater resistance and durability.
Even so, water resistance is only one part of the process.
The team must also consider temperature, movement, natural light, and long periods beneath the surface.
In addition, every line and color must remain visible through the water.
The final makeup must look strong from a distance and elegant in close-up photographs.
Underwater Photography
Capturing the Underwater World
Aqua Catrina collaborated with Fran Reina to photograph the first character.
Fran specializes in underwater photography and the movement of the human body beneath the surface.
Her experience helped transform the original vision into powerful and timeless images.
Underwater photography requires a different form of communication.
The photographer cannot direct a participant in the same way as in a traditional studio.
Instead, breathing, movement, fabric, expression, buoyancy, and safety must work together.
Fran’s photography experience became essential to the project.
Jael’s mermaid training and Alejandro’s artistic direction completed the creative foundation.
Beneath the Surface
The Underwater Experience
Movement, costume, makeup, light, and water become one visual composition.
An Immersive Transformation
More Than an Underwater Photoshoot
Aqua Catrina offers more than beautiful photographs.
It gives each participant the opportunity to become part of an artistic story.
The experience includes professional makeup, authentic costumes, artistic direction, and underwater photography.
In addition, participants experience one of Mexico’s most extraordinary natural environments.
Each person can connect with the Catrina from a personal perspective.
They can also discover how it feels to move and pose in a world without gravity.
No previous modeling experience is necessary.
The team guides every participant through preparation, posing, underwater movement, and safety.
Finally, the team creates a character connected to the participant’s personality and presence.
We did not want to place a traditional Catrina underwater. We wanted to create a character that belonged there.
Aqua Catrina
Before Entering the Water
The Jungle Experience
The jungle connects the Leopard Catrina with the natural identity of Tulum.
What We Offer
Private and Group Experiences
Aqua Catrina offers private and group experiences in Tulum.
Each experience connects Mexican culture with art, nature, fashion, makeup, and underwater photography.
Artistic Transformation
Professional makeup, character development, artistic direction, and personalized creative details.
Authentic Wardrobe
Exclusive costumes, headpieces, accessories, and fashion elements created for the character.
Underwater Photography
Professional underwater photographs created inside a cenote in the Tulum region.
Jungle Portraits
Artistic portraits surrounded by tropical vegetation and the natural landscape of the Riviera Maya.
Personal Guidance
Support with preparation, posing, underwater movement, creative direction, and safety.
Visual Content
Edited photographs with optional behind-the-scenes, social media, and cinematic content.
A Living Mexican Tradition
A New Way to Experience Mexican Culture
Aqua Catrina grew from collaboration, curiosity, and the courage to explore an unfamiliar world.
Jael first suggested the underwater Catrina photoshoot in 2023.
Then, Alejandro proposed turning the idea into a complete artistic experience.
In 2024, the team formally registered the project.
Since then, Aqua Catrina has continued to evolve through every participant and creative collaboration.
For Alejandro, the project took years of Catrina artistry into a new environment.
For the complete team, it became a contemporary way to honor Mexican identity.
Enter the Experience
Dive Into the World of Aqua Catrina
Discover a visual journey where Mexican tradition, fashion, jungle, art, and water come together.