Home: The Spaces That Makes Us by Maria Shironoshita
SITE #1:
Sir Winston Churchill Square
Maria Shironoshita
Home: The Spaces That Makes Us
Maria Shironoshita, Maladaptive, 2025. Oil on birch, 30 x 30”
This collection is a series of paintings reflecting personal identity and the home. The works are all made based on miniature sculptures and collages. The paintings present surreal representations of imagined spaces and hope to elicit feelings of both nostalgia and discomfort in the viewer.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“I create compositions that explore the complexities of home as a physical space but also as an emotional space; somehow a comfort, and a stressor all in one. I present ongoing explorations of the female experience, especially in conjunction with chronic illness and neurodiversity.”
Born in Peru and raised in Canada, my art has always been tied deeply to my own identity. Using collage, sculpture, and found objects, I create compositions that explore the complexities of home as a physical space but also as an emotional space; somehow a comfort, and a stressor all in one. I present ongoing explorations of the female experience, especially in conjunction with chronic illness and neurodiversity. My work depicts the palpably feminine while imploring viewers to reflect on how gender affects our view of ourselves both as children and as adults. Blending tactile sculpture and collage with surrealist painting techniques, I depict highly abstract concepts in tangible ways. Though my work pulls mainly from my own experience, I invite viewers to interpret my art as if it were their own; I am interested in how others find personal meaning in my paintings—how their own memories and experiences influence what they see.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maria Shironoshita is an emerging artist living and working in Treaty 6 territory, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Maria is Japanese Peruvian and immigrated to Canada at the age of four. She is a multidisciplinary artist exploring feelings of childhood and home. She has presented work in Edmonton and Canmore in both solo and group exhibitions and showcases. Maria currently holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Design from the University of Alberta, and her work is funded by the Edmonton Arts Council.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maria.shironoshita/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fake.dog