I make stuff up.

︎ Arts
︎ Letters
︎ Design


I am an artist, writer, and designer based between Manila and London.

︎ carina@carina-santos.com
︎ artsy.net
︎ CV



CURRENTLY ︎
— Design Assistant, Visual Editions
— Writer & Press Manager, West Gallery
— Design Director, Out of Print

MOST RECENTLY ︎ 2017—2019 MRes Art: Theory and Philosophy, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
RESEARCH ︎ Somebody, Somewhere: Situating the Subjective Body in Sensible Space

Statement: My practice has involved more traditional mediums, but since moving to London, and existing as a transplant, I have been venturing into a more diverse approach, introducing new media (websites, video, sound) into the overall body of work, with a particular interest in collaboration and communication via the Internet.

I translate gestural expression into landscapes, in different forms, such as paintings, poured sculpture, textile work, and digital occupations. I have been working on larger scale paintings and knitted textiles, a commentary on closing geographic and metaphorical distance, and the ways in which this space, “here,” becomes elusive, constantly evading fixity.

My research interrogates the relationship of the body and sensible space, linguistics and translation, and how colonisation fits into these modes of thinking. I am interested in the inflection of space to the body, and my own movement from my homeland. There is a deep sense of heritage and home, but migration has caused a tenuous relationship with this connection. Who am I, apart from home? Do I take these aspects of myself with me wherever I go? What does heritage and homeland mean? What do these places say and echo about the people who inhabit them, and vice versa.

PREVIOUSLY ︎
— Art Director, CNN Philippines Life
— Contributing Art Director, Esquire Philippines
— Design Director, The Manila Review
— Part-time Lecturer, Ateneo de Manila University


SELECTED CLIENT LIST ︎
Rogue Magazine, Esquire Philippines, L’Officiel Manila, CNN Philippines, Bench, HOODWINK, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Anvil Publishing, Inc., The Philippine Star, Summit Media, Warner Music Philippines


TALKS ︎
— SeenZine: Preventive Cultural Ghosting, presented with daikon*zine, London Centre for Book Arts


SELECTED PRESS ︎
2022
— Carina Santos: If We Opened People Up, We’d Find Landscapes, BluPrint

2021
— Highs and Lows, Kanto

2020
— “There should be a change in the system that gives value to cultural workers”, CNN Philippines Life

2019
— All in the Family: Art with the Santos Siblings, Metro Society

2017
— Wish You Were Here: Artist Carina Santos takes us to places both foreign and familiar, Rogue.ph

2016
— Natural Connection, Northern Living Magazine (Online)
— The New Shapeshifters: A Rogue Portfolio, Rogue Magazine

2015
— Location, location, location, GG
— Flows Take Shape, YStyle

2014 — Artist Carina Santos on Her Window Installation for HOODWINK, NOUS by Homme et Femme
— Modern-day Renaissance Woman: Carina Santos, Badass Lady Creatives
— Breaking Away from Malang, Business World
— Young Folks, New Strokes, The Philippine Star

2013
— It’s More Than Visuals with Lomographer Carina Santos, Lomography Magazine
— Mixed media collages by Carina Santos, Lost at E Minor

2012 — Bright Young Manila, Chalk Magazine
— Creative It List, Preview Magazine

SOLO EXHIBITS ︎
2022
— If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes, West Gallery

2020
— The Second Structure of Feeling, West Gallery
— Latent fictions, MO_Space

2019
— Here as Elsewhere, West Gallery

2018
— a pocket that could hold the universe, Finale

— Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless, West Gallery

2017
— Orbiting the Last Known Surroundings, West Gallery
— Satellites for Minor Planets, Blanc Gallery

2016
— Sometimes I am restless, West Gallery

2015
— a little on purpose, West Gallery

2014
— Where My Body’s Been, Blanc Gallery

2013
— See More Glass, West Gallery

2012
— How Still, How Fast, Blanc Gallery

2011
— Excavations from the End of the World, West Gallery

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS & PROJECTS ︎
2022
— (not within or beyond), MONO8 Gallery

2021
— IDENTITY, The Holy Art, London (Virtual Exhibit)

2020
— A. Play B. Work C. ____, West Gallery
— Drawing with Water, West Gallery

2019
— WXXX, West Gallery
— RoughPrint Pop-Up, North London Darkroom
— Things We Make, Underground Gallery
— Flipping Out, MO_Space for Art Fair Philippines
— West Gallery for Art Fair Philippines

2018
— ‘How to survive as an artist in the metropolis’/’Could it be a park bench?’, Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London

2017
— Ingress/Egress, Underground Gallery
— As Far As Near As Deep And Wid And Tall, Galerie Roberto
— A Collage Show, Underground Gallery
— Fresh Cut, New Blood, MO_Space
— Per Square Inch, The Drawing Room
— Obscurities, two-man show with Isabel Santos, Finale
— West Gallery for Art Fair Philippines
— Melted City 4, Blanc Gallery

2016 — The Out Sounds from the Way In: Imaginary Album and Music Show, Vinyl on Vinyl
— Binding, Blanc Gallery
— 12x9, West Gallery for Art Fair Philippines
— Objects, Paintings, Sculptures, MO_Space for Art Fair Philippines

2015
— But where do we put it?, West Gallery
— The In Image From the Way Out, Underground Gallery— Dry Rub, Pablo Post Gallery
— Naked Lunch, Altro Mondo
— You Are Here, Vinyl on Vinyl

2014
— Book Ends, Blanc Gallery — Gathered Narratives, Silverlens Galleries
— West Gallery for Art Fair Philippines

2013
— Tones of Home, Blanc Gallery
— The Mona Lisa Project, Cultural Center of the Philippines with West Gallery
— West Gallery for Art Fair Philippines

2012
— Through the Looking Glass: José Rizal, Manila Contemporary
— Hairy Things, Pablo Gallery
— Lightbombs Contemporary for Art East Island, Hong Kong — 16x16 for Young Star
— Pulp Fiction, Artinformal

2011
— Munnyfestation, Blanc Gallery
— Dia de los Muertos, Secret Fresh Gallery

2010
— West Gallery for ManilArt — 12x9, West Gallery
— Collage, West Gallery

2009
— Twelve By Nine, West Gallery