Cinders Gallery Presents We Are Dust, an exhibition by Monica Canilao.

We Are Dust, a new solo exhibition by Monica Canilao, explores our past histories through her delicate implementation of found materials into collages that involve drawing, painting, printmaking and sewing. Every life leaves an imprint on the people and places around it. Just as plants shoot out roots and embed themselves into their surroundings, we also lay our roots in the places we live and the communities we are a part of. We Are Dust is a grouping of portraits taken from nearly forgotten lives enshrined in the collections Monica has amassed over time. Collections of discarded materials that are left like historical breadcrumbs and then picked up along Monica’s path and resurrected in her work. Monica’s compositions seamlessly meld the old and new: stained paper, withered fabric, bones, and feathers combine with her hands to take part in creating new stories that then emerge and grow roots of their own.

Monica Canilao hails from Oakland, CA where she spends her days stitching, painting, printing, and breathing life into the refuse that dominates our time and place. She received a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts and has shown in galleries, community spaces, abandoned places worldwide.