Bio
ndra Ruiz-Hernandez is a cross-disciplinary artist of Mexican-Canadian origin, currently based in London, UK. With her unwavering commitment to her art, she has showcased her works in a total of 40 national and international exhibitions, including 4 solo exhibitions, 7 large-scale festivals, and 15 juried exhibitions, 13 international publications. Her contribution to academic writing has also earned her an award in the Social Science field along with Her contribution to academic writing has also earned her an award in the Social Science field along with published paper. Notably, she has won 21 awards in Fine Art including a Certificate of High Artistic Achievement from the Luxembourg art prize, Figureworks’ Honourable Mention, 19 Scholastic’s Arts and Writing Awards with 4 Gold Keys and 6 Silver Keys.
Ruiz-Hernandez has an impressive academic background, having completed her MA in Fine Art from the prestigious UAL’s Chelsea College of Arts. She also completed a BFA in Drawing & Painting and minored in Social Sciences at OCAD University, graduating with First Class Honours and Distinction. She won a coveted place at OCAD University’s self-directed Florence Program and to study Chinese Culture at Jiangnan University, China.
Her exhibitions have taken place in various renowned institutions such as the Archäologisches Museum Innsbruck, The British Library, The Bloomsbury Festival, MAFA International Festival, ‘LATE AT TATE’, Toronto Biennial of Art, and Kitchener’s TheMuseum. Alondra's talents have also earned her recognition as the Mexican Embassy & UK Mexican Arts Society’s Principal Artist during El Día de los Muertos Festival in London UK. In 2021, Alondra served as the Artistic Visual Director for the Shades of Light Event at the Bloomsbury Festival, where she oversaw the advertisement, curation of the artistic submissions, and execution and editing of a 20-minute film that aligned with a live performance of Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead.
Ruiz-Hernandez's passion for her art and her informed practice has led her to participate in numerous interviews and 8 public panels, including at the Toronto Biennial of Art's 'Unknowable Unknowing', Kitchener's TheMuseum, OCAD University, and Goodenough College. Through these discussions, she has shared her insights on topics ranging from her artistic practice to climate change, politics, and social issues such as the de-stigmatizing of menstruation and period poverty, all from an artist's perspective.
Statement
Alondra’s core question is how, as an artist, can she contribute and support an equitable, collaborative, sustainable and diverse world? Her work aims to thoughtfully examine the complexities of trauma in society, alongside issues of vulnerability, transformation, and collective consciousness.
Ruiz-Hernandez expands on Mcluhan’s analogy of the collective society as one “global nervous system” and posits that this collective entity, like any conscious being, is capable of experiencing trauma and exhibiting corresponding reactions. Our present crises (climate & migrant) serve as imminent concerns that expose a deeper interwoven predicament as they are by-products of an already broken society.
Much of Ruiz-Hernandez’s work focuses on death, drawing on the rich ancestral tradition of Mexico. Alondra sees death and grief as vital steps toward healing. Death doesn’t just consist of the destruction of the physical body but also the deconstruction of the psychological self. Furthermore, grief is a communal experience that breaks down the illusion of individualism. Ruiz-Hernandez finds that it is often the darker, more tragic works of art that resonate most powerfully with the human soul. Ruiz-Hernandez aims to embrace the full range of human experience and harness its power to create works that transcend the limitations of individual experience and connect us all on a deeper level.
Conceptually, death can either engender paralyzing fear or catalyze positive and meaningful transformation on the individual and collective levels. To Ruiz-Hernandez, in order to imagine any kind of equitable and sustainable future, humanity must allow its former ways of existing and relating to others and the earth to die, grieve the losses, and begin to give birth to a new alternative.
Her oeuvre possess uncanny and otherworldly qualities, drawing heavily upon a hybridisation of Ruiz-Hernandez's painting and photography techniques. These mystic and eerie compositions blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy, resulting in a visual language that is both haunting and beautiful.
Education
Education
• 2020-2021, UAL Chelsea College of Arts, MA Fine Arts, London, United Kingdom
• 2015-2020, OCAD University, Drawing & Painting Major, Social Science Minor, Toronto, Canada
• 2017-2018, OCAD University, Off-Campus Florence Program, Florence, Italy
• 2017, Jiangnan University, Chinese Culture Program, Wuxi, China
• 2013-2015, Etobicoke School of Arts, Contemporary Visual Arts Program, Toronto, Canada
• 2011-2013, Cawthra Park SS, Visual Arts Program, Toronto, Canada
Solo Exhibition
• 2021, Dia de Muertos Festival, Somers Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Somatic Shift, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2020-2021, The Night’s Breath Responds to the Sea, Quest Art, Midland, Canada
• 2017, Stitching Time, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Events
• 2021, The Faces at Braga, Performance reciting David Whyte's poem, William Goodenough College, United Kingdom
• 2020, LATE AT TATE BRITAIN ONLINE, TATE, London, United Kingdom
Festivals
• 2022, Día de Muertos, Somers Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, The Contemporary Art Festival Premierentage, Postcards from Isolation, Archäologisches Museum Innsbruck, Austria
• 2021, Día de Muertos: A Celebration of Life, La Isla Para Morir, British Library, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Bloomsbury Festival, Shades of Light, Conway Hall, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, MAFA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, Chelsea College of Arts, International
• 2020 ERIC Festival, ERIC, Online
• 2019, Toronto Biennial of Art, Unknowable Unknowing, Toronto, Canada
Juried Exhibitions
• 2023, Reflections, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, Maryland, United States of America
• 2022, International Women's Day, Leslie Grove Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2021, La Isla Para Morir, British Library, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Recast: Turning the Symbolic into the Concrete, Community Garden Art Collective, Online
• 2020, RUPTURE • T O N I C • REGENERATE, QuaranTonics, Online
• 2019, Unknowable Unknowing, The Great Hall OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• 2019, FLOW | The Menstruation Exhibition, THEMUSEUM, Kitchener, Canada
• 2018, Figureworks, Winner of the Honourable Mention, St Brigid's Centre for the Arts, Ottawa, Canada
• 2017, The Art of Talking to Yourself, 187 Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2016, Re-Vision, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2016, Where Are You Really From? Daniels Spectrum, Toronto, Canada
• 2016, Salon X, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, Magenta Flash Forward, Incubator Program, Twist Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, Salon IX, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2014, Migration, Nuit Blanche, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2014, Photo & Film Festival, Artisans at Work, Toronto, Canada
Group Exhibitions
• 2021, Postcards from Isolation, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
• 2021, Postcards from Isolation, Archäologisches Museum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
• 2021, D.R. Show III, Triangle Building, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, D.R. Show II, Triangle Building, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, D.R. Show I, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, RALLY!, Chelsea College of Arts, London, United Kingdom and International Location
• 2021, Utopian Worlds, Digital Exhibition, International collaborations
• 2021, Winter Salon Project, Digital Exhibition, London, United Kingdom
• 2020, Cookhouse Exhibition, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2020, Track & Fauna, Outdoor Performance Piece, London, United Kingdom
• 2020, Connected Disconnection,Video Exhibition, UAL Chelsea College of Arts, London, United Kingdom
•2019, GradEx 104, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• 2019, A Night of Filth & Decadence, The Great Hall OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• 2018, Frutti: The Fruits of Our Labour, The Great Hall OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• 2018, Emulsion II, 14 Via Bonifacio Lupi, Florence, Italy
• 2017, Emulsion I, 14 Via Bonifacio Lupi, Florence, Italy
• 2016. Awenda Inspired, Ada Slaight Student Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, The Contact Photography Exhibition, Artscape Youngplace, Toronto, Canada
• 2014, Portfolio Day 5, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
Art Booth
• 2019, REFLECT, RAW TO, Mod Club Theatre, Toronto, Canada
Awards
• 2020, FOLAS/SIS Academic Writing Award in Social Science, OCAD U
• 2018, Figureworks, Honourable Mention
• 2015, ‘I AM THE NEW SCHOOL’ Finalist, Parsons, The New School
• 2015, The Scholastic Arts Awards, 1 Gold Key Award for Art Portfolio
• 2015, The Scholastic Arts Awards, 3 Gold Key Awards (Photography)
• 2015, The Scholastic Arts Awards, 5 Silver Key Awards (Photography)
• 2015, The Scholastic Arts Awards, 1 Silver Key Award (Painting)
• 2015, The Scholastic Arts Awards, 8 Honorable Mentions
• 2014, The Scholastic Arts Awards, 1 Honorable Mention
Talks
• 2021, Academic Committee's Port Talk Panel on COP 26, Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Port Talk, William Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• 2020, The Night’s Breath Responds to the Sea Artist Conversation, Quest Art, Midland, Canada
• 2019, Artist Panel FLOW | The Menstruation Exhibition, THEMUSEUM, Kitchener, Canada
• 2016, Meet the Artist, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, ART TALK 4, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, Meet the Artist, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Juror
• 2022, Audition Day, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• 2021, Bloomsbury Festival, Shades of Light, London, United Kingdom
• 2019, Audition Day, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, Audition Day, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
Publication
• 2022, MexiBrit, Alondra Ruiz on being Mexican-Canadian artist in London, United Kingdom
• 2022, Dark Yellow Dot, Artist of the Month, United Kingdom
• 2021, Büro für Gegenwartskunst (Contemporary Art Office), Die Premierentage des Festivals für zeitgenössische Kunst (The Contemporary Art Festival Premierentage Art), Austria
• 2019, BlogTo, featured in '25 Artist to Watch from the OCADU Graduation Exhibition' article, Canada
• 2019, Canadian Art, Image featured in 'Canadian Museum Plans Exhibition on Menstruation' article, Canada
• 2018-2019, Photo Ed Magazine, full page on the digital edition of 'Studio Magic: Baby it's Cold Outside', Canada
• 2018, Wot Is Art? full page on '2018 February Edition' print, UK
• 2018, A5 Magazine, full page on '2018 February Edition' print, UK
• 2017, Development of Dystopic Scenarios, 10 artworks in academic design guide, Mexico
Publication Project
• 2020, MAFAZINE, London, United Kingdom
Work Experience
• 2022, Collaborative Artist with El Centro de Inteligencia Voluntario, raising awareness and funding via art to assist helpful technology responding to natural disasters, Mexico
• 2022, Artist & Atelier assistant for Studio Orta, Les Moulins, France
• 2022, Collaborative Artist with El Centro de Inteligencia Voluntario, raising awareness and funding via art to assist helpful technology responding to natural disasters, Mexico
• 2021, Volunteer Assisting Afghanistan Refugee, attained subsidised rent and food after the troop withdrawal, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Visual Artistic Director Shades of Light in Bloomsbury Festival, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Poster designer for Shades of Light in Bloomsbury Festival, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Poster designer for Port Talk, Memento Mori, Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• 2021, Poster designer for Port Talk, The Crisis of Capitalism, Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• 2020-2021, Arts & Humanities Faculty Representative, Goodenough College, London,
• 2018-2020, OCAD U Photographer, OCAD U, Toronto, Canada
• 2019, Private Art Lessons, (building students portfolio to apply to art high-school), Toronto, Canada
• 2018, Volunteer Photographer, The Nook, Toronto, Canada
• 2018, Photographer, OCAD U CO Events x2, Toronto, Canada
• 2017, Art Camp, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• 2016, Art Camp, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• 2015, Art Camp, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• 2014-2015, Private Art Lessons for Children, Mississauga, Canada
2020-2021
2015–2020
2017–2018
2017
2013–2015
2011–2013
• UAL Chelsea College of Arts, MA Fine Arts, London, United Kingdom
• OCAD University, Drawing & Painting Major, Social Science Minor, Toronto, Canada
• OCAD University, Off-Campus Florence Program, Florence, Italy
• Jiangnan University, Chinese Culture Program, Wuxi, China
• Etobicoke School of Arts, Contemporary Visual Arts Program, Toronto, Canada
• Cawthra Park SS, Visual Arts Program, Toronto, Canada
Solo Exhibition
2022
2021
2020-2021
2017
• Dia de Muertos Festival, Somers Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• Somatic Shift, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• The Night’s Breath Responds to the Sea, Quest Art, Midland, Canada
• Stitching Time, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Events
2021
2020
• The Faces at Braga, Performance reciting David Whyte's poem, William Goodenough College, United
• Kingdom
• LATE AT TATE BRITAIN ONLINE, TATE, London, United Kingdom
Festivals
2022
2021
2020
2019
• Día de Muertos, Somers Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• The Contemporary Art Festival Premierentage, Postcards from Isolation, Archäologisches Museum
• Innsbruck, Austria
• Día de Muertos: A Celebration of Life, British Library, London, United Kingdom
• Bloomsbury Festival, Shades of Light, Conway Hall, London, United Kingdom
• MAFA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, Chelsea College of Arts, International
• ERIC Festival, ERIC, Online
• Toronto Biennial of Art, Unknowable Unknowing, Toronto, Canada
Juried Exhibitions
• Reflections, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, Maryland, United States of America
• International Women's Day, Leslie Grove Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• La Isla Para Morir, British Library, London, United Kingdom
• Recast: Turning the Symbolic into the Concrete, Community Garden Art Collective, Online
• RUPTURE • T O N I C • REGENERATE, QuaranTonics, Online
• Unknowable Unknowing, The Great Hall OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• FLOW | The Menstruation Exhibition, THEMUSEUM, Kitchener, Canada
• Figureworks, Winner of the Honourable Mention, St Brigid's Centre for the Arts, Ottawa, Canada
• The Art of Talking to Yourself, 187 Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Re-Vision, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Where Are You Really From? Daniels Spectrum, Toronto, Canada
• Salon X, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Magenta Flash Forward, Incubator Program, Twist Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Salon IX, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Migration, Nuit Blanche, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• Photo & Film Festival, Artisans at Work, Toronto, Canada
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
Group Exhibitions
• Postcards from Isolation II, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
• Postcards from Isolation, Archäologisches Museum Innsbruck, Austria
• RALLY!, Chelsea College of Arts, London, United Kingdom and International Location
• D.R. Show III, Triangle Building, London, United Kingdom
• D.R. Show II, Triangle Building, London, United Kingdom
• D.R. Show I, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• Utopian Worlds, Digital Exhibition, International collaborations
• Winter Salon Project, Digital Exhibition, London, United Kingdom
• Cookhouse Exhibition, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• Track & Fauna, Outdoor Performance Piece, London, United Kingdom
• Connected Disconnection,Video Exhibition, UAL Chelsea College of Arts, London, United Kingdom
• GradEx 104, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• A Night of Filth & Decadence, The Great Hall OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• Frutti: The Fruits of Our Labour, The Great Hall OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• Emulsion II, 14 Via Bonifacio Lupi, Florence, Italy
• Emulsion I, 14 Via Bonifacio Lupi, Florence, Italy
• Awenda Inspired, Ada Slaight Student Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• The Contact Photography Exhibition, Artscape Youngplace, Toronto, Canada
• Portfolio Day 5, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
Art Booth
2019
• REFLECT, RAW TO, Mod Club Theatre, Toronto, Canada
Awards
2020
2018
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2014
• FOLAS/SIS Academic Writing Award in Social Science, OCAD U
• Figureworks, Honourable Mention
• ‘I AM THE NEW SCHOOL’ Finalist, Parsons, The New School
• The Scholastic Arts Awards, 1 Gold Key Award for Art Portfolio
• The Scholastic Arts Awards, 3 Gold Key Awards (Photography)
• The Scholastic Arts Awards, 5 Silver Key Awards (Photography)
• The Scholastic Arts Awards, 1 Silver Key Award (Painting)
• The Scholastic Arts Awards, 8 Honorable Mentions
• The Scholastic Arts Awards, 1 Honorable Mention
Talks
2021
2020
2019
2016
2015
• Academic Committee's Port Talk Panel on COP 26, Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• Port Talk, William Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• The Night’s Breath Responds to the Sea Artist Conversation, Quest Art, Midland, Canada
• Artist Panel FLOW | The Menstruation Exhibition, THEMUSEUM, Kitchener, Canada
• Meet the Artist, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
• ART TALK 4, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
• Meet the Artist, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Juror
2022
2021
2017
2016
• Audition Day, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• Bloomsbury Festival, Shades of Light, London, United Kingdom
• Audition Day, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• Audition Day, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
Publication
2022
2021
2020
2019
2019
2018-2019
2018
2018
2017
• MexiBrit, Alondra Ruiz on being Mexican-Canadian artist in London, United Kingdom
• Dark Yellow Dot, Artist of the Month, United Kingdom
• Büro für Gegenwartskunst (Contemporary Art Office), Die Premierentage des Festivals für
• zeitgenössische Kunst (The Contemporary Art Festival Premierentage Art), Austria
• Arts and Science Review, Myriad Masculinities in a Patriarchal World, OCADU
• BlogTo, featured in '25 Artist to Watch from the OCADU Graduation Exhibition' article, Canada
• Canadian Art, Image featured in 'Canadian Museum Plans Exhibition on Menstruation' article, Canada
• Photo Ed Magazine, full page on the digital edition of 'Studio Magic: Baby it's Cold Outside', Canada
• Wot Is Art? full page on '2018 February Edition' print, United Kingdom
• A5 Magazine, full page on '2018 February Edition' print, United Kingdom
• Development of Dystopic Scenarios, 10 artworks in academic design guide, Mexico
Publication Projects
Work Experience
2020
• MAFAZINE, London, United Kingdom
• Principal Artist for the Mexican Embassy’s Dia de Muertos Festival, London, United Kingdom
• Artist & Atelier assistant for Studio Orta, Les Moulins, France
• Collaborative Artist with El Centro de Inteligencia Voluntario, raising awareness and funding
• • via art to assist helpful technology responding to natural disasters, Mexico
• Volunteer Assisting Afghanistan Refugee, attained subsidised rent and food after the troop withdrawal,
• London, United Kingdom
• Visual Artistic Director Shades of Light in Bloomsbury Festival, London, United Kingdom
• Poster designer for Shades of Light in Bloomsbury Festival, London, United Kingdom
• Poster designer for Port Talk, The Crisis of Capitalism, Goodenough College, London, United
• Kingdom
• Poster designer for Port Talk, Memento Mori, Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• Arts & Humanities Faculty Representative, Goodenough College, London, United Kingdom
• OCAD U Photographer, OCAD U, Toronto, Canada
• Private Art Lessons, (building students portfolio to apply to art high-school), Toronto, Canada
• Photographer, OCAD U CO Events x2, Toronto, Canada
• Volunteer Photographer, The Nook, Toronto, Canada
• Art Camp, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• Art Camp, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• Art Camp, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
• Private Art Lessons for Children, Mississauga, Canada
2022
2021
2020-2021
2018-2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014-2015