- City
- Toronto
- Booth
- Nathan Phillips Square
Booth 128
Carolina Vargas Reis
Carolina Vargas Reis is a Toronto-based artist whose work explores migration, memory, displacement, and adaptation. Drawing on a background in engineering, business, and research, she combines analytical inquiry with painting to investigate how personal and collective histories shape the way people understand themselves and the world around them.
Born in Colombia and later immigrating to Canada, Vargas Reis brings a transnational perspective to her practice. Her work is informed by stories gathered through travel and conversations across the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, the United Kingdom, and communities throughout Canada. These encounters inform paintings that examine movement across borders, cultural memory, and the ways individuals navigate change.
A distinctive aspect of her practice is the development of her own paints and materials. By formulating pigments and paint systems herself, material experimentation becomes an integral part of the creative process. Her work has been recognized for its combination of research, storytelling, and innovative material approaches, creating visual spaces where complex histories and contemporary experiences intersect.
