Fernando Aguilar Alcántara is a third-generation member of the Aguilar family, the youngest son of Josefina Aguilar Alcántara. He trained at the Bellas Artes Academy in Oaxaca and works as a ceramicist, painter, and graphic artist. By blending Zapotec mysticism with allegorical storytelling, his pieces often explore themes of death, achieved in part through a distinctive charcoal-gray firing technique he developed himself, set alongside his own interpretations of the natural world. In 2014, he received Mexico's national youth prize for distinction in artistic expression and popular arts, recognition of work that's inspired other young artists in his community.