Marikit Santiago was born in Melbourne. She lives and works in Western Sydney where her practice investigates a personal conflict of cultural plurality at the conjunction of Filipino ethnicity and Australian nationality. Her work reflects the interweaving cultures of her ethnic and social identity, representing simultaneous, conflicting sensations of acceptance and rejection.
She completed a Bachelor of Medical Science before pursuing an art career in earnest. She received the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence at the completion of a Bachelors of Fine Art (Honours Class I) in 2011, and received the Australian Postgraduate Award for her candidature in Masters of Fine Art at UNSW Art & Design (formerly COFA) in 2013.
Marikit was selected as a finalist for the Archibald Prize in 2016. She was a resident at the Parramatta Artist Studios in 2017.
Since receiving her MFA at UNSW Art & Design, Marikit has participated in several solo and group exhibitions at Firstdraft, Verge Gallery, ADSpace, AirSpace Projects, and Blacktown Arts Centre, to name a few. Marikit’s work has been recently exhibited at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre for the group exhibition, Everyday Madonna, which responds to female artists’ experiences of motherhood, challenging the iconic and classical images of the Madonna and Child (depicted mostly by men). With the recent arrival of her third child, Marikit finds the show timely as it is her first show out of maternity leave, and an honour to be shown alongside wonderful artist mothers.
You can read more about Marikit and her art at www.marikitsantiago.com or her Instagram page at instagram.com/marikitsantiago/.
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Art Pairing
Slicing Tomatoes 