Kariny Padilla

Kariny Padilla (b. 1999, Santiago, Dominican Republic) is a visual artist based in Queens, NY. Her multidisciplinary practice blends hand sewn unstretched canvases with painting, using stitching not only as a technical gesture but as a conceptual language. Through layered textile surfaces, Padilla explores themes of memory, identity, and materiality, drawing from the historical significance of quilting as a means of both survival and expression.

Evoking the 18th and 19th century tradition of quilting as a necessity for warmth and protection, Padilla’s work creates sanctuary-like environments, spaces where her subjects can exist freely, with dignity and softness. Her compositions are at once intimate and expansive, confronting the complex interplay between personal histories and broader cultural narratives.

Padilla earned her BFA in Fine Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2021. Her work has been featured in exhibitions such as the 15th A.I.R. Biennial at A.I.R. Gallery in New York, The New Contemporaries, Vol. 3 at Residency Art Gallery in California, and she was selected for the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program in 2022. Most recently, she was a resident at the Chautauqua School of Art Six Week Residency Program in 2025.