Ep 124: Marikit Santiago

Marikit Santiago is one of Australia’s most impressive artists, combining a skilful representational painting technique with powerful imagery.

Mythology, Disney, her Filipino heritage, religion, guilt, motherhood and family are examples of the subject matter she draws from and her upcoming show, ‘For us sinners’ at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, is set to contain some of the most impactful work she has produced to date.

What’s equally striking is the contrast between her painting style and the surface on which she often chooses to paint: found cardboard, typically in the form of flattened packing boxes complete with rips, creases and packing tape!

Marikit won the Art Gallery of NSW’s Sulman prize in 2020 with her work ‘The Divine’, a painting of her three children who were also her collaborators. We talk in this episode about how they contribute to her practice and why that collaboration is so important to her work.

Apart from winning the Sulman, Marikit has been a finalist in many other prizes including the Archibald prize twice. She has exhibited in 6 solo shows and her upcoming exhibition at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is her first institutional show. It is curated by Micheal Do and opens on 26 March 2022.

We recorded this conversation in Marikit’s garage studio with her stunning recent work, Thy Kingdom Come, leaning precariously against the easel. Rich with cultural and religious symbolism, as well as quite a few cartoon characters, the complex painting had been finished the day before our interview, after nine months’ work.

To hear the podcast episode click ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo.

Scroll down for a short video of Marikit in her studio from the Talking with Painters YouTube channel .