Mariz Nigro

Mariz Nigro’s (b. 1990, Argentina) work unravels the shifting boundaries of identity, memory, and place, reflecting the tension of living between two worlds. As an Argentinian in the UK, she explores her own duality and the erosion of clear distinctions—between past and present, history and embodiment, magical thinking and the rational. Her work moves through the hazy space where nostalgia distorts, where distance sharpens and softens perspective in equal measure.

Influenced by the language of film, personal recollections, and the natural world, Mariz Nigro constructs atmospheric narratives that feel both intimate and unplaceable. Figures emerge within dreamlike spaces, caught between the familiar and the uncanny, as if suspended in a story just beyond reach. Her images invite the viewer to linger in this ambiguity, to navigate the thresholds between what is remembered, what is imagined, and what is real.

Mariz works across a range of media, primarily water-based, layering bold, expressive strokes with delicate areas of intricate detail. Her colour spills beyond the lines, mirroring her own dual identity—fluid, uncontained, existing in more than one place at once. The poignancy of her colour compositions challenges realism, shifting hues away from strict accuracy without disrupting the emotional weight of the scene. This delicate subversion heightens the dreamlike quality of her work while keeping it tethered to reality, as if viewed through the lens of memory. A quiet unease lingers in her compositions, drawing the viewer into a space where something has just happened—or is just about to.

In “This Monstrous Longing”, Mariz Nigro delves into the overwhelming emotions of displacement and the feeling of never quite belonging—an echo of her fragmented immigrant experience. Like the monsters of classic cinema, her homesickness and longing take on a life of their own, untethered from natural laws, corroding her memories and unraveling her present reality.

Her narrative pieces invite the viewer into an intimate inner world, shaped by layered symbolism: a fusion of her South American heritage, British landscapes, and the imagery of popular culture. This rich visual language explores the materiality of fabric—both literal and metaphorical—through intricate prints, patterns, and solar-sensitive dyes, evoking her love for theatre, early film costume design, and the emotional textures of migration and memory.

Feminine energy pulses through the work, reclaiming spaces long defined by the macho-coded male gaze of her past. Yet a quiet darkness persists: identities blur, and the figures that emerge exist in a space of existential uncertainty—just a second away, perhaps, from disappearing forever.