Isabela Markus Nafarrate is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Through a mixture of painting and sculpture, her work explores symbols and experiences of gender, nationalism, and foreignness. Isabela is currently pursuing her Bachelor's with a double major in Studio Arts and History at Concordia University.
___

My practice is a reclamation of autonomy through play, colour, and movement. In my work, I aim to navigate the tensions between the intimate and the foreign, pleasure and destruction. Springing from my experiences as a woman and immigrant, which demand living in constant contradictions, I am drawn to moments of dissonance. I am curious about what nostalgia and exoticization reveal about colonial and patriarchal narratives. Embracing both materiality and research, my multidisciplinary practice spans oil painting, textiles, sculpture, dance, and video. My curatorial approach and habit of throwing parties in my apartment come from the same instinct to create moments for connection and reflection.

Exhibitions

2025 Nourrir la nostalgie, Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain.
2025 Post Mortem, Art Matters Festival Staff Exhibition, VAV Gallery.
2025 manifesting gardens, 2025 Undergraduate Student Exhibtion, FOFA Gallery.
2024 Fleeting Flexitites, [UN]PROMPTU Collective, Atelier Galerie 2112.
2024 Cicatriz, VAV Gallery.
2024 Luxury Goods, Luxury Bads, Art Matters Festival, Produit Rien.
2022 Homesick, Concordia’s Painting and Drawing Association, Atelier Galerie 2112.

Press

Between Preservation and Decay, manifesting gardens Catalogue, Essay by Emmy Voges.
Meet the Students of the Faculty of Fine Arts: Part Two, Interview, Photo Essay by Lisa Graves
Meet the Students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Interview, Photo Essay by Lisa Graves
Concordia celebrates 25 years of the student-run festival Art Matters, by Felicity T. C. Hamer.

Experience

2024 - 2025 Programming Coordinator, Art Matters Festival.
2023 - 2025 Board Member, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Concordia University.
2023 - 2024 Administrative and Financial Coordinator, VAV Gallery.
2022 - 2023 Board Member, Fine Arts Reading Room, Concordia University.
2022 - 2023 Board Member, VAV Gallery

ISABELA MARKUS NAFARRATE