C U R R E N T  &  F U T U R E  E X H I B I T I O N S

Montreal
Foire Plural 2025 - Booth 214: Duran Contemporary
April 10 - 13

Toronto
Collision Gallery Residency / Exhibition
April 19 - May 19

Maria Esthela is an autistic immigrant woman and self-taught abstract artist currently working between the unceded territories of Tiohtià:ke - Mooniyang (Montreal) and Tkaronto (Toronto).
She has exhibited her work in Canada and abroad and is represented by Duran Contemporary in Montreal.

Her practice investigates the intersections of experience, identity, bodymind and spacetime through the lens of systems theory, new materialism and magical realism. Her interest in liminality, specularity and transparency are informed by her unique autistic expression and cultural fluidity. 
She engages with sculpture, installation, and drawing in a non-linear exploration of emergence, immanence, paradox and entanglement within the natural world and the cosmos.
Guided by research and meditation, her practice is handmade, methodical and site-responsive. Her process is intuitive, repetitive and tactile, following the movement of thought as it expands and multiplies, revealing elusive patterns and perspectives that playfully hint at the ineffable ecstasy that intertwines with the ordinary.
She works with a range of materials that coincide in their optical properties, interpreting the language of light by arranging them into coded rhythms; a poetic proposal on the recursive nature of spacetime and the reciprocal agency of energymatter.
The abstract language she has developed seeks to evoke thoughtful lightness and emotional gravitas, drawing lines of inquiry and points of reflection that trace and transcend the realm of reason, suspending thought and elevating our attention to what lies between and beyond.

Portfolio upon request.
S O L O  E X H I B I T I O N S
2023 Reykjavik, Iceland - Borgarbókasafnið, The Crystal is not here 
2022 Montréal, Canada - MIIDSPACE, Particle Perspectives
2020 Montréal, Canada - 5500, V15M1N

G R O U P  E X H I B I T I O N S


2025 Toronto, Canada - Collision Gallery, Delicate Matter
2025 Montreal, Canada - Duran Contemporary, Ser y Estar
2024 Montreal, Canada - Duran Contemporary, Where We Are (at)
2023 Philadelphia, United States - The Spite Haus, Love's Other Name

2023 Reykjavik, Iceland - SIM Residency Open Space
2023 Montréal, Canada - Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Les Printemps du MAC
2022 Montréal, Canada - Le LivArt Centre d'art Montréal, Contemporary Drawing
2021 International / Virtual - The Wrong Biennale, Curator & Artist: v15m1n
2019 Toronto, Canada - Off Nuit Blanche, GAIA - Video installation

A R T  F A I R S
2025 Montréal, Canada - Duran Contemporary, Foire Plural 2025

A R T I S T  T A L K S
2023 Reykjavik, Iceland - SIM Residency Artist Talk May 2023
2023 Montréal, Canada - Les Printemps du MAC Artist Talk

R E S I D E N C I E S
2023 SÍM Residency, Reykjavik, Iceland 
2022 - 2023 Arsenal Contemporary Residency, Montréal, Canada

A W A R D S
2022 Canada Arts Council, Research & Creation
2025 Canada Arts Council, Research & Creation

A R T S  &  C U L T U R A L  W O R K
2024 - 2025 Board Member, Visual Arts Centre, Montreal, Canada
2024-2025 Active Member, CIRCA Art Actuel, Montreal, Canada
2024  Consultant, Things + Time, Montreal, Canada
2023 - 2024 Consultant, James Oscar, Montreal, Canada
2019 - 2020 Board Member, InterAccess, Toronto, Canada

E D U C A T I O N
2022 The Systems View of Life, Capra Course, Online
2012 Centro Internacional de Fotografia y Cine (EFTI), Madrid, Spain
2003 - 2008 Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
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