Kiana Girigorie
Kaneda’s Bike, 2024, 150 x 150 cm, oil on canvas
Over the past years, Kiana Girigorie (b. 1997, United States) has developed a vivid and introspective painting practice where dreams and reality, magic and realism, continually merge. Girigorie’s works channel the presence of spirits, memory, and heritage. Her compositions, energetic and often richly coloured, evoke an ethereal lightness intertwined with an immense, almost spiritual power. Through intricate patterns and layered forms, her figures seem to flicker between visibility and disappearance, charged with both intimacy and intensity.
Drawing from an archive of Japanese books, films, and childhood memories, Girigorie explores her maternal heritage through visual dialogues with folklore and myth. Recently, her attention has shifted toward her paternal roots in Curaçao, tracing how ancestral narratives shape identity and belonging. Her paintings thus move fluidly between continents and cultures, mapping the invisible ties that connect the personal and the collective.
Education
2020 Bachelor of Fine Art, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU), Netherlands
Solo Exhibitions
2021 “Nasty Little Monsters”, LANG, Amsterdam, NL
2023 “Texas has babies…”, Kennedy van der Laan, Amsterdam, NL
“Puzzled”, LANG, Amsterdam, NL
Group Exhibitions (Selection)
2018 “IMPAKT, The Way Out Is Through”, Academy Gallery, Utrecht, NL
2019 “Breakfast At Building Sites”, LOU, Utrecht, NL
“Does The Fish Know It’s Water?”, TUUB, Utrecht, NL
2020 HKU Graduation Show, Pastoe Fabriek, Utrecht, NL
2021 “ALL IN”, Het Hem, Zaandam, NL
“De Belofte”, Kunstliefde, Utrecht, NL
Biennale, Mol Rauw, Belgium
2022 “White Smoke”, LANGart Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
“Nuver Moonshine”, Kunsthalkloof, Utrecht, NL
“Lift Off”, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Utrecht, NL
“Kloof United”, Kunsthalkloof, Utrecht, NL
“In a Pig’s Whisper”, De Vishal, Haarlem, NL
“OGENBLIKSEM”, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL
PAN Amsterdam, RAI Amsterdam, NL
2023 ART Verona, Verona, Italy
2024 “BANCONTACT”, De Bouwput, Amsterdam, NL
“Everything Is On The One”, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL,
Museum Nairac, Collection J. Ruys, Barneveld, NL
NAP+”, LANG, Amsterdam, NL
Art Verona, LANG, Verona, Italy
2025 Katten en Ketters, met Emo Verkerk, LANG, Amsterdam, NL
Initiatives & Activism
2018 “Stop Black Face & Let Us Talk About It”, discussion group for students at HKU
2019 Tools For The Times: Practicing Inclusivity, HKU Pastoe Fabriek.
2023 De Personeelskamer, non-profit exhibition space in Amsterdam
Nominations & Grants
2020 Nomination: De Buning Brongers Prize
Nomination: Hivinisiki OV Prize
2023 Grant: Mondriaan Fonds Artist Start
Publications
2020 Metropolis M Eindexamenspecial by Jorne Vriens
“TWENTY TWENTY” artbook by Koen Taselaar
2021 Metropolis M “Hoe studenten van onderop bezig zijn de kunstacademie te veranderen” by Alyxandra Westwood
2022 Centraal Museum “Een samenwerking en een vruchtbare botsing” by Laurie Cluitmans
2023 GARMENT Magazine, Magazine of Amsterdam Fashion Institute, interview