Cristina Rago Cristina Rago Artist Bio Cristina Rago is a Filipino American born in New York in 1993. She received her BFA from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. where she resided for 10 years. She has featured her work within the local DC community with RAW Artists, DC Design Week, and has exhibited her work at local restaurants. She is currently showcasing her work with the London Paint Club and Asian Pasifika Arts Collective. Cristina is a painter who incorporates mixed media techniques with inks in the early stages of her paintings and finishes each piece with the highest quality oil paints. Her work highlights women and deals with themes of empowerment from oppression, rebirthing from trauma, and overcoming limiting beliefs developed from both cultural influences and from within the woman herself. Through her work, she hopes to inspire others to heal from the past, shed limiting thought patterns, and become the best version of themselves by stepping into their true identity. Cristina Rago works out of her home studio located in London, UK. Cristina Rago Artist Statement My painting practice is an investigation of identity in a variety of ways. Identity is rooted in many contributing factors such as gender, sexuality, culture, race, and our relationships. Furthermore, these factors that contribute to identity are ever-changing, fluid, and evolving. What interests me is the fact that each of those factors come with levels of societal and cultural expectations of how one should be. These become mere limitations on the potential of individuals and often come in conflict with our true and genuine nature. My work often features women who are melting or dissolving, having pieces around them break away or unravel. In all of my paintings there is a simultaneous undoing and emergence of the form whether it be the female figure or a portrait. The subject is either dissipating into or emerging from fluid abstracted elements. Through my work, I am challenging systems of oppression and restrictive thought patterns. I hope to empower others to shed any limiting beliefs to reach one’s true identity and potential in life. I believe when we come to a true realization of our identity, we can live in our most authentic way.