Valerie Camila (b.2002) is a contemporary Canadian figurative oil painter from Southern Alberta based in London, UK. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Certificate in Media Studies (‘24) from Queen’s University and is a current MFA candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Camila’s practice hinges on establishing profound connections between the subjects of her paintings. While her artistic practice revolves around figurative painting, her identity as a young, lesbian Colombian-Canadian woman infuses visual storytelling with themes of introspective resiliency, queer realities, femininity, and cultural unrest. Her works capture moments of intimacy and self-realisation, weaving together narratives that resonate with emotional humanity. Her artistic philosophy works to celebrate the power of affection, capturing the intricate emotional dynamics of relationships and identity. In her work, light is manipulated to convey narratives through a silent language of unspoken emotions, incorporating idioms and thematic motifs to make her work read cinematically. Camila enacts introspective discomfort through the personal navigation of restlessness and care, using dreamlike qualities and abjection. The intimacy of her work aims to unravel the discourses of identity that often exist at the periphery of mainstream cultural dialogue.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada and the United States, such as the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Union Gallery, Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Gallery 4%, and TERAVARNA. Camila’s art has also been featured in international publications like Suboart, Ultraviolet, and MUSE Magazines. In 2023, she received the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant, and in 2024, she received the Andre Bieler Prize.