Karina Aguilera Skvrisky

“In the late 1970s I lived in Guayaquil (Ecuador), the city where my mother was born. The contrast between my memories and experiences in Ecuador with my life in the US has been central to my practice, which uses personal narratives as a gateway to explore broader questions of place, identity and nationhood.”- Karina

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky (b.Providence, RI) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice began in photography and grew into video and performance. In 2019, she received a grant from Creative Capital to produce How to build a wall and other ruins, a project that includes a series of sculptural photographs, a multi-channel video installation and live performances. She has exhibited the project in solo exhibitions at Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico and Ponce + Robles Gallery in Madrid, Spain. Other important international exhibitions include her participation in Impermanence, the XIII Cuenca Biennial (Ecuador) curated by Dan Cameron in 2016 and There is always a cup of sea for man to sail, the 29th São Paulo Biennial in Brazil (2010).

Skvirsky’s work has been exhibited internationally in group and solo shows including: Museo Amparo, Puebla, MX (2019), Centro de la imagen, CDMX (2018), Centro de arte contemporaneo Quito, EC (2018), The Deutsche Bank, NY, NY (2018), Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY (2017), Ponce + Robles Gallery, Madrid, SP (2017), The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA (2016), Hansel & Gretel Picture Garden Pocket Utopia, NY, NY (2014), DPM Gallery, Guayaquil, Ecuador (2014), Instituto Cervantes, Rome, Italy (2013), The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ (2013), Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, NY, NY (2013), La Ex-Culpable, Lima, Peru (2010), Scaramouche Art, NY, NY (2010), Galería Proceso, Cuenca, Ecuador (2009), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT (2007), El museo del barrio, NY, NY (2006), Sara Meltzer Gallery, NY, NY (2006), Jessica Murray Projects, NY, NY (2006),  Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY (2006) and others.

She has received grants from: Anonymous Was A Woman (2019), Creative Capital (2019), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement (2019), New York Foundation for the Arts (2019), The National Association of Latino Arts & Culture (NALAC, (2018), Fulbright Scholar Program (2015), The Jerome Foundation (2015), The New Jersey State Council in the Arts in photography (2015), The New York State Council on the Arts, Film and Electronic Arts, NY (2010), Urban Artist Initiative, NY, NY (2006), Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ (2006) and others.

She has participated in the following artist in residence programs including: Office Hours, El museo del barrio, NY, NY (2015), The Laundromat Project, NY, NY (2011), MacDowell Artist in Residence Program, Peterborough, NH (2005 & 2010), Cuts and Burns Residency, Outpost, Artist in Residence Program, Brooklyn, NY (2008), Harvestworks New Work Residency, NY, NY (2006), Swing Space, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY, NY (2005), Institute of Electronic Arts Residency, Alfred University, Alfred, NY (2005), Center for Book Arts, Artist in Residence, NY, NY (2005), Smack Mellon Artist in Residence, Brooklyn, NY (2004), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Workspace, Woolworth Building, NY, NY (2003), Cyberart Residency, Longwood Arts Project, Bronx, NY (2003) and others.

Skvirsky is represented by Ponce + Robles Gallery, Madrid (Spain) and Galería Vigil Gonzales, Lima (Peru).