Isabela Markus Nafarrate is a Mexican artist based in Montreal whose work navigates the tensions between the organic and the artificial, the permanent and the ephemeral, the intimate and the foreign. Her work is coloured by displacement, information overload, and sentimentality, creating a space where pre-Columbian sculptures mingle in family photos, glitter collides with rusted nails, and flowers fuse with price tags. Oil paint and textiles lay the foundation for a practice that embraces materiality, where research, reflection, and play converge to question our relationship with nature and the objects surrounding us. 

Isabela’s work has been featured in exhibitions at galleries such as FOFA Gallery, Produit Rien, Atelier Galerie 2112, and VAV Gallery. She is currently pursuing a BFA with a double major in Studio Arts and History at Concordia University.

Exhibitions

• 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

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• 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