mpabuelstudio


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Maria Patricia Abuel (she/they) is a Toronto/Tkarón:to based Filipinx interdisciplinary artist, community worker, arts and culture educator, and administrator. She obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts, Studio Specialist Degree at the University of Toronto Scarborough and currently a Masters of Fine Arts candidate at York University. Patricia has extensive experience with arts organizations and collectives across the GTA including the KAPISANAN Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture, Workman Arts, Images Festival, and East End Arts. They are also a workshop facilitator for elementary and high schools in the GTA to teach students about Filipino arts and culture. She is the co-founder and co-director of SEA FRIENDS collective, which fosters community through promoting the vibrancy and diversity of Southeast Asian culture. Abuel has exhibited at various galleries and events including Art Museum, Artspace, Xpace Cultural Centre, Gallery 101, and Nuit Blanche Toronto.


CV


For interests in collaborating or any other inquiries, please email mpabuelstudio@gmail.com

@mpabuelstudio


Photo by  Myuri Srikugan

Artist Statement

My artistic practice explores the intersections of family history, memory, and the body as a means to re/connect with inherited cultures while challenging societal expectations. Through an interdisciplinary approach, I draw on diverse mediums, including performance art, video art, photography, drawing, and textile to navigate the complex relationship between the personal and the collective, the past and the present.

Playfulness and documentation are central to my work, serving as tools to preserve, honour, and reinterpret traditions especially in relation to the body and space. My Filipina, racialized, femme body is a site of vulnerability in my practice, offering a raw, visceral connection to themes of identity and heritage. Through movement, gesture, and ritual, I engage with the intimate and often fragile spaces where personal experience intersects with cultural history.

I view my practice as a dialogue between inherited narratives and contemporary realities to create a space for reflection, resistance, and reimagination. I strive to create works that are both deeply personal and universally resonant, inviting viewers to question and redefine the ways we perceive identity, belonging, and cultural heritage.