Lani Maestro


Lani Maestro is a Filipino-Canadian artist who divides her time between France and Canada. She works in installation, sound, video, bookworks and writing. From 1990-94 Maestro was co-founder/co-publisher and designer of HARBOUR Magazine of Art and Everyday Life, a journal of artworks and writings by artists, writers and theorists based in Montreal.

Early life and education

Maestro was born in Manila and studied at the University of the Philippines where she received a BFA. She pursued an MFA at NSCAD University in Halifax. She taught studio arts at the Nova Scotia College Of Art and Design. University of Lethbridge. For ten years, she taught in the MFA program at Concordia University

Exhibitions

In 2017, Lani Maestro represented the Philippines at the 57th Venice Biennale with artist, Manuel Ocampo. She has participated in numerous international exhibitions including the Singapore Biennale in 2019, the Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art, the Segunda and the Quinta Bienal dela Habana , the Fifth Istanbul Biennial, the 11th Biennale of Sydney, the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, and the Busan Biennale, Busan, Korea.
In 1994, the artist showed at the Chambre Blanche Gallery in Quebec City in an exhibition titled "Lani Maestro: A Wound in the Lung". Maestro showed an installation entitled "Paramita" in the Ohrenlust exhibition at the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie in 1997. In 2006, the artist was featured in a solo exhibition at Dalhousie Art Gallery, curated by Susan Gibson Garvey.
Maestro represented the Philippines at the Venice Biennale with artist Manuel Ocampo. This exhibition was curated by Joselina Cruz and was held from May 13 to Nov 26, 2017.

Awards

Among her many awards is the Hnatyshyn Award for outstanding achievement by a Canadian artist in the visual arts in 2012. In 2018, she received an Honorary Doctorate Honoris Causa from NSCAD University in Canada

Publication

Cradle: Lani Maestro by Carolyn Forchê
Lani Maestro: Chambres de quiétude/ Quiet Rooms Gallerie De L'UQAM
je suis toi Wharf, Centre d'art contemporain de Basse-Normandie
Lani Maestro: Sing Mother Dalhousie Art Gallery
"Lani Maestro"/Her Rain Centre A - Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art/ Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art.
Paramita Centre d'Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie