Kiara is an artist from Chile who moved to London in 2018. She has been doing art since she was two years old, and always thought she was going to be a fashion designer. But then she realised she was leaning more into visual arts and graphics, and started doing collages and graphic design about five years ago.
You use many different techniques for your art, but your main medium is collages. When did you discover this for yourself?
Lately collages have been where I seem to find the most comfort. I am always happy with the results and there is still enough space for growth. Before, I always did my collages by hand and recently I started playing around with digital collaging. I am exploring a new way of doing it, and it is actually way easier. You spare yourself the hours and hours of cutting pieces and finding the right colours, which gives you the time to focus on the art and brings better quality results.
I discovered collaging when I did my IB diploma; I was in visual arts so I experimented with many different techniques. I did sculptures and drawings and paintings, but I remember that everyone gave me such good feedback when I did my first collage and I started really liking it. So then, a few artworks later, I found myself doing yet another collage and I fell in love with this technique because I could do all my art with it and never get bored or disappointed.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I like to recognise patterns everywhere, whether that is in people’s personalities or in food. For my collages, it is particularly important to me that there is a piece of nature in them, because it makes them look more abstract. When you put a mountain with a flower and a face together, suddenly you are not sure what the image is anymore, but it is still one whole big composition. That is why I am always inspired by lots of flowers and food to bring everything together in a more organic way.
How has your moving to London influenced your art?
When I moved to London, I stopped doing art. Whenever I am there, I am so taken by the rush of the city and studying and seeing friends that I actually stop doing anything creative entirely. But then when I come back to Chile or go on a holiday, that is when I start doing art again. More than impacting my art, moving to London has given me that breathing time to come at it with a fresh point of view and new aesthetic tastes.
What have you been working on lately?
I recently organised a little market here in Chile where I gathered a few artists to present and sell their work. It started when I was going through some clothes that I wanted to sell and thought that I would really like to do a US-style garage sale. I told my friend who does beautiful necklaces about it, and we came up with the idea to do a small market. I started framing my favourite artworks and we started gathering friends. The second we talked about it, we had five people who wanted to come and five others who wanted to sell their art with us. Because it was a very new project, we decided to build a community first and not charge for the entrance yet. It was amazing, we had a DJ who played for nine hours straight, there was a tattoo artist, others were selling upcycled clothes, and there was just an overall mystic energy that made it really special. We were just helping each other out really, but we do want to organise more markets like this in different spots so it feels more like a pop-up event.
What are your goals for 2021?
Coming back to Chile and organising this event really pushed me to reconnect with my art, as in taking it more seriously, framing and selling it. I think I would really love to get in touch with local galleries and see if they would be interested in displaying my work. I started to leave my art aside but now I want to prioritise it and give it my all.
Find all of Kiara's designs on her Instagram profile!
Comments