karina napier

Napier’s work is deeply personal while presenting intimate moments she witnesses in other individuals. Her emotional response to their experience results in a type of “self” portraiture by depicting her own self within the other - interweaving the dual experiences. 

This approach centers on a philosophy of interconnection called Ubuntu, which she learned while living in West Africa: I am you because you are.

A self-taught artist, she studied at Parsons School of Design in New York City but didn’t pursue painting. However, she’d dreamt of being a painter from a young age, mimicking Monet with Crayola watercolor from the floor of her bedroom.

A practical career distanced her from this passion, but the years 2020-2022 presented space and time to paint. After taking the leap into creation, she found a pleasing outlet for the severe experience she couldn’t otherwise articulate and has since continued this commitment to art.

With the support of her partner, a trained and professional artist, and between birthing her only biological child, helping to raise her stepchildren, and running her own business, she has created miscellaneous moments to paint and to study other painters she admires.

Napier was born in bucolic Hancock, New Hampshire, in 1984. She currently resides with her family in Portland, Maine.