Aymara Aalvarado

After studying drawing, painting and sculpture at the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City, Aymara Alvarado followed the footsteps of her grandfather Carlos Alvarado Lang who was an engraver. Her admiration for classical painters led her to experiment with oil on canvas and gold leaf. Her current approach merges old and new techniques, with a hope to abolish their borders. Since she moved to Quebec in 2003, she is working with cultural and environmental differences and seeking new creative spaces to make art. She is a longtime member of the artists’ cooperative Le Temporaire in Gatineau. In 2011, she received a grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec which has allowed her to seek new opportunities for exhibitions and events. In 2012, she explored music, learning how to play the saxophone and to sing, with her band Fire Queen with Jordan David. She delved into improvisational electronic music, with the objective to find her own sound — this exploration is very liberating and makes the atmosphere of a party. She never wants to repeat herself, over and over again, like the litany of a song. She sees her creations the same way she sees the live act: the flow is her freedom, she is getting into her zone. Aymara Alvarado also explores the worlds of performance and cinema, acting comes naturally to her, and she likes to take people out of their comfort zone, making her audiences vulnerable, like her. She is currently working on a project of music and performance for the Day of the dead, an ancient celebration in Mexico.