Mariana Silva Varela (b. 1973) is a Stockholm-based artist working with weaving, scenography, and light.
Through her artistic practice, Silva Varela explores worldviews as historical and contemporary fictions, often in relation to migration and anthropology. With a critical perspective on nationalist and colonial narrative structures, she creates her own worlds in her weavings, examining how identities are shaped and stories are passed on.
Silva Varela is interested in the similarities in human expressions and methods—the common thread that connects us.
She has an advanced textile education from Handarbetets Vänner Skola and a background as a historian specializing in migration history and the philosophy of science. She also works with public art installations. Her works have been exhibited at venues such as Liljevalchs, Södertälje Konsthall, the Swedish Institute in Paris, and Art Lab Gnesta.
