MARIANA ITO

Escada espiritual, 2025.
Wood dust, rice starch, biomaterials, wool, and linen.
Thinking about systems of translations. The ladder bridges land and spirit.
Hand-carded, hand-spun, needle felted sheeps wool and alpaca wool. Carioca beans dyed linen. 
Rice curtains, 2025.
Homemade rice bioplastic, lace, muslin.
Using light to decorate the interior to blend the outside and inside.




Wakasa Maru Conquistador (rice boat), 2024.
Rice (grains, ground, cooked), resin, paraffin wax.




Meet Me in My Bathroom, 2024
Installation and invitation.

Plasma cut steel in bathtub water.




Joint, 2024.
Cold bended and welded steel.



two gallons, 2023.
Recycled plastic jugs.




  
ABOUT 

Instagram: @marianait0

   













Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Mariana Ito, also known as Mari, is a sculptor and interdisciplinary artist driven by materiality in relation to heritage and tradition. Her Japanese ancestry and Brazilian roots, and the dynamics of cultural identity inform her work as she translates elements from memories, personal and historical, to investigate the language of remembering. Working with organic and industrial materials, she explores material culture and history. By combining ephemeral and conventional mediums of art, Mari expands on the changing dynamic of materials and their tension in coexistence. 



Graduate of the two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma at the Escola Americana de Campinas (American School of Campinas), Mariana exhibited a collection of works in the IB Visual Arts Exhibition 2022 and the IB Visual Arts Exhibition 2023 that awarded her the The ‘Adriana Varejão’ Arts Gala Senior Award in 2023. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and exhibited the work “two gallons” at the 2024 ArtBash. 
EDUCATION

BFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago (expected 2027)

International Baccalaureate Diploma (2023)

Escola Americana de Campinas (2023)






GROUP SHOWS AND EXHIBITIONS

Manifestations, Haz Room, Chicago, IL, October 11th,
2025 

Art Bash Open Call, Site Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2023

IB Visual Arts
Escola Americana de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
2023

IB Visual Arts
Escola Americana de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
2022





PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2025
Curator with Triple Portal, "Manifestations," Haz Room, Chicago, IL, October 11, 2025.

Docent, The Gyotaku Exhibition, Japanese Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, USA.


Studio Intern, Marcius Galan, Artist assistant in restoration, art-handling, archival procedures, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.


Media Center Equipment Facilitator, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (ongoing)


RICE CURTAINS CINS