email: irishmcarpo@gmail.com
Irish Carpo was born in the Philippines in 1994 and moved to the United States in 2010. She got her Associate of Fine Arts at Montgomery College in 2018. In 2021, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Art History and concentration Curatorial Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Carpo’s work explores the themes of memories, childhood, and home as an artist living outside of her ancestral land. She draws inspiration from Filipino traditions and superstitions and from the tropical colors and imagery of the Philippines. Carpo uses various mediums and materials in her work. Her work was part of the NextGen 6.0 show at VisArts Rockville in 2019.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is an exploration of my past and my present. It’s an attempt to memorialize, reconnect, and recapture the memories of my childhood through paintings, time, and mixed media art. It explores nostalgic subjects to invoke the feeling of home and all the in-betweens. These memories are transported back to the present through a mix of personal symbolisms and Filipino traditions. Specific memories of fun and childhood imaginations are depicted in each work.
Having grown up in a small province, my very first encounter with beauty and art was in nature. The flora and fauna of the Philippines have heavily influenced my work and have become a symbol of home and a depiction of nostalgia. Their colors and presence in my composition emphasize the tropical climate of the country and create sense of comfort.