my work is about healing. the broken bits both small and huge, individual and collective. art for me is a way to explore the intricacies of human emotion - our fallibility, the desires that drive us, the mysteries that we are. i’m interested in how we relate to each other as people, how we are connected and how that can or does sustain us. i want sincere emotion and real reaction. this is where truth lives, it comes from these questions we share with each other, these relations which make us feel whole.

i work with acrylic paint and ink, fabric, organic ephemera, photographs from my life and journal excerpts. my search for the connections that exist between us as people lead me to expose the connections that hold my art together. tape, string, staples and glue are often as integral to the depiction of my ideas as paint and ink are. my art is messy because our lives are messy, they are assembled daily from the tiny details surrounding us and sometimes don’t seem to make sense, yet from all of this a larger narrative grows which is exquisite and real.

Caroline Barrientos is a self-taught interdisciplinary artist who has currently made her home in a cozy attic apartment in Winnipeg. Coming from a history of constant uprooting and relocation, her art grows from searching for connections and understanding in all aspects of her life. Caroline works in a broad range of media including photography, paint, text, multimedia collage, textile art and dance. She is also beginning to dip her ideas into the world of video and sound art. Caroline has been in various group exhibits on Vancouver Island, along with organizing and promoting several of her own. She has had an audio piece on CBC national radio’s Outfront and co-choreographed and performed with the Glo Glo Girls dance troupe of Vancouver Island. Caroline’s search for physical connections is becoming more satisfied since returning to Winnipeg in 2005. With this she is finding room to turn inward and examine the ties between us that exist there.

caroline.being@yahoo.ca
myspace.com/dreamingmakingbeing

choose love - acrylic, ink and oil pastel on paper, October 2007. by caroline barrientos

five things - photos, acrylic, ink, oil pastel, sequins, scotch tape, masking tape, thread, beads, on paper, January 2007. by caroline barrientos

ten wishes - ink, acrylic, oil pastel, tape, thread, money, wooden frame on paper, July 2007. by caroline barrientos

living into your dreams - photo transfer, acrylic, ink, oil pastel, photos, tape on plywood, April 2008. by caroline barrientos

promise? - acrylic, photos, oil pastel, letraset, cloth on paper, June 2007. by caroline barrientos

where i’ve been - photo transfer, ink, oil pastel, acrylic on plywood, March 2008. by caroline barrientos