Gladys Camilo

A closeup of a dining table. The table is covered by a handmade tablecloth made by the artist with rectangular shapes varying in size and colors of blue, yellow and green and white strips. In the center there is a candle holder with a lit candle, and around it, are empty glasses, a stack of soup bowls with a few spots in the topmost bowl, and tiny black trays scattered on the table. The are a few red napkinds and a tiny table sculpture. A close up of one hand hondling a soup bowl, while the other hand, holds the spoon. Both hands are leaning against the table, and on the table are various glasses and a napkin. Inside the bowl it reads what methods do you use to work with others?.
The viewer is facing a corner of the gallery. Botton half of the wall is painted a coral pink. At the very corner of the space there is a tv mounted on the wall with the exhibition's visuals and related content. Hanging from the celiing is an lcd sign flashing soup ingredients in red pixel text. In the room there there five tables forming a semi-circle with a large woven carpet in the center. The tables all have different and colorful tablecloths. The tables are set with cutlery and dishware. The benches that accompany the tables have colorful circular cushions.

Everlasting Soup, 2025.
Group Exhibition
Through sharing kitchen talk and kitchen traditions, Everlasting Soup aims to create a welcoming environment for precarious cultural workers and others to discuss their livelihoods and working conditions. We work through and with the metaphor of a pot of everlasting soup, in which the remnants of one day’s broth become tomorrow’s beginnings. We put forward a collective curatorial practice that strives to foster long-term processual relationships. Sinne Gallery, Helsinki Finland
Further details at: Everlasting Soup

For Everlasting Soup, Gladys had created a series of tablecloths made with upcycled textiles for the canteen corner. During the working process, Gladys pulled inspiration from memories, feelings, and sensations related to matriarchal practices of cooking and togetherness. When working at her sewing table, Gladys developed this poem to reflect on the ideas embedded in her works:

The Accumulation of Things

Family recipes, diaries,
wares and cloth.
one atop the other.
Accumulated.

They ground us
when memory falters.

What will you remember?
Will it be,
the feel and weight of the cloth,
the smell of the room,
the tast of the meal,
the company.

And the tablecloth?
It will remember too—
the warmth of your presence,
the spill of the flavours,
soaking deep into its weave.

A white hall filled with an arrangement of hanging textile artworks. on the wall there are paintings and drawings. Scattered thoughout the space are visitors examining the artworks. Documentation of a small oil painting. It is a person with a serious expression looking straight to the viewer; the background is an ambigious blue space and the figure is red.

Fragmented Fronts, 2022
Catalysti Annual Exhibition
Quilted works made with upcycled materials (left):
Señora Cruz III, 2022, 68cm x 106cm
Señora Lopez III, 2022, 82cm x 106cm
Señora Torres III, 2022, 54cm x 91cm
Painting (right):
Alone in the Room I See Glimpses of Who I Was, 2022
Oil on Canvas, 30cm x 30cm
Curated by Elham Rahmati
Energiasali (Museum of Technology) Helsinki, Finland
Documentation by: Samra Sabanovic and Tamara Aalto
Futher details at: Catalysti ry

A watercolor-like print of a humanish figure. The drawing has many textures within the figure and the background. It was printed using brown, pink and blue.

Pieces of Hope, 2022
Are You There?, 2022, 700cm x 100cm
Pantone print, 200g paper
Helsinki Design Week X Kaiku
Curated by Antti Grundstén

A green and pink wall of an exhibition space. From left to right on the wall, there are: small ink drawings attached to office envelopes, a medium size yellow painting of a human-like figure, and a brown quilt with organic shapes. the same exhibition space, but from a different angle. From left to right, on the wall there are: three small paintings of human-like figures in wooden frames placed in a dyniamic arrangement on the wall, a medium sized blue panting of a human-like figure, and a large green quilt with abstract and organic shapes. There is also a large red rug at the center of the room. The same space, but from a different angle. From left to right, on the wall there is: the yellow painting, the brown quilt, a brown paintinh of a human-like figure and a small pink quily with organic shapes.

Through the Mire, 2022.
Solo Exhibition
The body of work combines quilts, paintings, sketches, and photographs with memory, functioning as a focal point in my artistic methodology. The exhibition is a collection of experiences and feelings of belonging, and the invisible aggressions of everyday life.
Outo Olo Artspace, Helsinki Finland
Further details at: Outo Olo Artspace

A scan of a poem by Gladys as part of the exhibition, it reads: The mire is the mushy living soil that pulls me into dreams of terror and mangled faces; reality, turning inyo broken flesh and pleasures. It is the dense mud and wet softness that cradles and eats this weary body; sinking, in and out of place; confused, like, being ripped away from the roots, not knowing who you are and who you once were. Roots; decomposing bodies; entangled and angry, cold and mucky. Floating into nothingness and into everything. The mire, knows who it is but cannot remember who it was. Traversing treacherous landscapes without being seen, heard or found. Persisting, in hopes of finding a space for rest beyond the mire.
A small oil paninting of a person with long pink hair. They are looking straight to the viewer with a serious expression on their face. The painting contains various tones of pink, yellow and blue. the painting is encased in a wooden frame. An oil painting with swirls of red, blue and yellow paint make up a human-like figure.
A peach colored quilt with brown organic shapes are scattered throughout the surface of the quilt along with white knots. The quilt has a light blue binding.

Señora Cruz, 2022
Oil on canvas, 30cm x 40cm
Señora Cruz II, 2022
Oil on canvas, 46cm x 55cm
Señora Cruz III, 2022
Wall quilt made with upcycled materials, 68cm x 106cm

A small oil paninting of a person with long pastel green hair. They are looking straight to the viewer with a serious expression on their face. The painting contains various tones of green, pink, and blue. The painting is encased in a wooden frame. An oil painting with organic shapes with various tones of pink, green and yellow make up a human-like figure.
A large green quilt has a dark purple organic shape at the center, around it, are four green fluid shapes. The quilt has a peach colored binding and hot pink knots scattered throughout the surface.

Señora Lopez, 2022
Oil on canvas, 30cm x 40cm
Señora Lopez II, 2022
Oil on canvas, 46cm x 55cm
Señora Lopez III, 2022
Wall quilt made with upcycled materials, 82cm x 106cm

A small oil paninting of a person wit long pastel blue hair. They are looking straight to the viewer with a serious expression on their face. The painting is encased in a wooden frame. An oil painting with organic shapes in various tones of brown, pink, yellow and blue making up a human-like figure
A pale yellow quilt has salmon pink organic shapes throughout the surface and there are light green knots within the salmon pink shapes. The quilt has a light blue binding.

Señora Torres, 2022
Oil on canvas, 30cm x 40cm
Señora Torres II, 2022
Oil on canvas, 50cm x 60cm
Señora Torres III, 2022
Wall quilt made with upcycled materials, 54cm x 91cm

Marloes van Son and Alex stand behind a platfrom topped with music equipment. Large speakers sit at each end of the platform. Gladys Camilo standing over a dj booth adjusting the sound.
Hikari Nishida standing over her printer feeding it fresh paper. Shubhangi Singh kneeling on the floor, her hands are hovering over a pile of stones. two human shadows are facing each other, the background is a deep blue. Elina Nissinen is crouching on the floor while holding a ball of thread. Around her are trays of paint and fabric.

Exit Through the Loophole, 2021.
A multi media performance festival and group performance.
Vapaan Taiteen Tila in Helsinki, Finland
Documentation by PHAN
Hosted by Varialambo in collaboration with Catalysti ry.

A small and square puffy quilt. Each puffed block contains an item. The binding is a pale yellow and border is decorated with beaded fringe. A small and square quilt made of orange and light blue checkers. The binding is a pale yellow and the border is decorated with white white beaded loops.

1 to 100 Artshop, 2021
The things I Carry Overwhelm Me, 2021 (left)
Quilt with beaded work, 30cm x 30cm
I Think I Remembered Something Important, but Then I Forgot, 2021 (right)
Quilt with beaded work, 18cm x 20cm
Katugalleria Mutteri, Helsinki, Finland
Curated by Hikari Nishida and Emil Lyytikkä

A flag pole with a pink flag is waiving against a clear blue sky. The flag has a yellow sunburst pattern radiating from an off-center point.

What's the Use of Intersectionality, 2021
An online and outdoor exhibition featuring commissioned artworks that explore different ways to communicate and encounter intersectional feminism.
Spider's Nest, 2021.
Digital print on Texmesh, 150cm x 245cm
STOA Cultural Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Curated by Feminist Culture House
Documentation by: Ikko Alaska
Futher documentation at: Feminist Culture House

A white and blue book cover with a text that reads 'performing a lifetime' A scan of a spread from 'Performing a Lifetime'. The left page contains a blue and brown watercolor illustration of a figure that resembles a cell. The right page contains text. Another scan of a spread from 'Performing a Lifetime'. The left page contains text and the right page contains a blue and brown watercolor illustration of figures that resembles microbes. Another scan of a spread from 'Performing a Lifetime'. The left page contains text and the right page contains a blue and brown watercolor illustration of a human figure sitting down with their arms bent over their head.

Performing a Lifetime, 2020
A book exploring bodies and identities belonging to the in-between. Saara Mahbouba and Gladys Camilo reflect on the complications of navigating between accurate representation of oneself and one’s community and the traps of performativity, appropriation, and self-exploitation. Exploring the complexities of working ethically in a contemporary artscene that simultaneously lauds and punishes otherness, Performing a Lifetime taps into the artists’ personalexperiences of embodying identities that are neither fully within nor without categories of otherness and hegemonic bodies.
Text: Saara Mahbouba
Paintings: Gladys Camilo
Publisher: quince ediciones

a white wall in a gallery spaced filled with artworks by various artists ranging in size and media. An oil painting of two young girls facing the viewer with serious expressions on their faces. The left figure wears warm hues and the right figure wears cool hues. Background is a solid violet.

Summery Sales Exhibition, 2020
An exhibition showcasing unique artworks from 120 artists
We Watched Them Burn One Another; Evolve Into Ash,
Only to Be Filled by it Once More, 2020
Oil on canvas, 55cm x 46cm
Kosminen Galleria, Helsinki, Finland