Artist Statement

My art is a reflection about life; it encompasses concepts and processes that provide a connection between the visible and invisible. I create visual narratives that integrate political and social issues, women’s vulnerability, confusion, contradictions, and my personal experience of nomadic life, which can resonate with millions. I work across media, fluidly engaging with sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, textiles, and ceramics, working with passion, exploring materials and processes, and incorporating life experiences and acquired knowledge. While experimenting, I feel free to connect the spiritual and physical, to past and present, fears and love, allowing the mystery of life to reveal itself.

Currently, I am working with documental photography, textile, and acrylic paint, exploring social and personal impressions and expressions.

Biography

Maria J. Riviere, Argentinian Canadian visual artist, born in Buenos Aires, based in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

In the late 1970’s she relocated to Spain and eventually Canada, where she pursued a career in computer programming. After her retirement, she reconnected with her interest in visual art through expressions in experimental form. Riviere graduated with Great Distinction and Honour thesis from The University of Lethbridge's BFA Art Studio program in 2023.

She works across media, fluidly engaging sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, and textile, exploring the intersection of the visible and invisible. She is a two-time recipient of the Roloff Beny Photographic Award in Fine Arts and has also received several other awards. In 2021 and 2023, Riviere’s works were featured at The Gallery at CASA in Lethbridge, Alberta. The Penny Gallery, The University of Lethbridge, in 2023 exhibited her works. She has her first solo exhibition at Escuela de Educación Estética in Buenos Aires in 2023. In the winter of 2025, she presented an installation at The Gallery at CASA and participated in a traveling exhibition with Trap \ Door. In the summer of 2025, she exhibited again at the Gallery at CASA, with Trap \ Door, and at the Crowsnest Pass Public Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada.