artist statement
As a conceptual artist that works across media, my practice is rooted in an investigation of language and its role in empire-building. From a migrant and post-colonial subject’s vantage point, I challenge the tension between the influence of language in identity formation and its inherently reductivity. Through painted portraiture, assemblage, projections and audio installations, I explore how art transcends not only words but also space and time—creating opportunities for somatic experiences that can blend past, present, and future.
My work is characterized by layering multiple narratives and perspectives created from a foundation of research on America’s imperialist past—specifically its complex relationship with the Philippines. By incorporating elements from the public archives with my family archive, I weave the "macro" of global colonialism and the "micro" of how this history sits within me today, physically and psychically. I invite viewers into the ongoing conversation and to grapple with how colonization of minds is not limited to those whose land has been colonized.
bio
Ria Unson (b. Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino American visual artist living and working in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born in Manila, migrated to the United States at age 13, and has lived her adulthood in the Midwest. Unbeknownst to her, her great-grandfather was brought to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, following the American colonization of the Philippines. By sheer coincidence (or destiny) she moved to the historic neighborhood that once housed the Philippine Village at the Fair. It is still the occupied territory of the Osage Nation, the Missouria, and the Illini Confederacy.
Ria studied fine art at Northwestern University. She has made a livelihood in both corporate America and higher education. Her art practice centers the narrative of a post-colonial, mixed race transnational.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 The art of time travel, Curated by Curiosity
2024-2025 Artifacts of Empire, Kling Family Gallery, Lambert Airport St. Louis
2023 In the beginning was the word, Messing Gallery, MICDS
2023 Mga kuwento namin (Stories we tell), Center for Creative Arts
2023 Stories we are told, The Gogh Getters
2022 Stories we are told, Angad Arts Hotel
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Air, Energy, Breath: Works by 7 Contemporary Asian Artists, Bonsack Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
2025 Lunar New Year Exhibition 2025, Messing Gallery, MICDS, St. Louis, Missouri
2025 Reflections Unveiled: Contemporary Portraiture in the Digital Age, St. Louis Artists’ Guild
2024 Invisible: Reclaiming the Asian Gaze, Wildfruit Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
2024 31artfest, 31 Art Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
2024 Lunar New Year Exhibition 2024, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
2023 CARE, Red Gate Gallery, curated by Adrienne Outlaw, St. Louis, Missouri
2023 Ann Metzger National Memorial Biennial, St. Louis Artists' Guild
2023 Small Works Invitational 2023, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
2022 Tell Me A Story, St. Louis Artists' Guild
2022 Belonging: Cross River Art Exhibition, Lewis Collaborative-TechArtista,
St. Louis, Missouri
2022 The Art of Technology, St. Louis Artists' Guild, St. Louis, Missouri
2021 Migration - 2021, international juried online exhibit
2022 Ann Metzger Memorial National Biennial Exhibition, St. Louis Artists' Guild
2022 Curious? 5th Biannual Exhibition, Angad Arts Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri,
2019 American Conversations, Art St. Louis
MEDIA
2024 Exhibit explores experiences of humans put on display at 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, PBS News Hour, May 21, 2024
2024 Featured Artist, Missouri Arts Council
2024 Artist of the Match, May 15, St. Louis CITY SC
2024 A St. Louis Museum Revisits a Famous but Complex World's Fair, The New York Times, April 23, 2024
2024 Updated Exhibit Addresses 1904 Pageantry — and Painful History — with Fresh Perspectives, Gazelle magazine, March 29, 2024
2024 History Museum is set to reopen 1904 World’s Fair exhibit, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 28, 2024
2024 Contributing author, The Wonder and Complexity of the 1904 World's Fair, Missouri Historical Society Press
2023 Featured in Scientific American’s Lost Women of Science podcast, December 14 episode
2023 Featured in Positively Filipino, December 6 issue
2023 Featured in Filipino math teacher Emma Rotor helped develop crucial WWII weapons tech,
Science News, September 12 issue
2023 St. Louis Artist Reclaims Her Story by Challenging Colonial Stereotypes, Gazelle magazine, March 2023
2023 Made in St. Louis: Her art stems from research on World's Fair, American imperialism,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
2022 New American Paintings, Issue 161
2022 HEC-TV
2022 The Santa Clara Review, Issue 109.2
2022 In Their Own Words, Stl.org
ARTIST TALKS, LECTURES & WORKSHOPS
2025 The art of time travel and other mysteries of a creative life, Stl.org’s Bright & Early
2024 The Wonder and Complexity of the World's Fair book launch at Missouri History Museum
2024 Legacy of Prejudice at the 1904 World's Fair, Missouri History Museum
2024 Empowered Storytelling: Recollecting our Pasts, Shaping our Future - an art workshop with Ria Unson
2024 St. Louis Art Museum lecture for St. Louis Public School Art Teachers
2024 Guest Lecturer, Missouri History Museum, 2024 Summer Teacher Institute
2024 Interrogating the colonized mind through contemporary art practices, Panelist, Association of Asian American Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, WA
2024 Featured Speaker, Midwest Filipino American Summit
2024 Featured Speaker, Decolonization in Asia Teach-in hosted by WashU Asian Multicultural Council
2024 High Noon at the High Low, Exploring legacies of the 1904 World's Fair with Ria Unson, Filipino
American visual artist, St. Louis, Missouri
2023 Annual Meeting Featured Speaker, Cole County Historical Society, Jefferson City, Missouri
2023 Panelist, Americanist Dinner Forum: Moving Stories: Migration, Advocacy, Art, and Scholarship in Conversation, Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
2023 Featured Speaker, NASPA APIDALA, Washington University in St. Louis
2023 Featured Speaker, Fall Speaker Series, Washington Public Library, Washington, Missouri
2023 Featured Presenter, Day of Dialogue and Action, Washington University in St. Louis
2023 Guest Lecturer, Stories Culture Taught Me class, Washington University in St. Louis
2023 Guest Lecturer, Mixed Mediums: Gender in American Visual Culture class,
Washington University in St. Louis
2022-2024 Filipinos at the 1904 World's Fair: a legacy of race and empire, Missouri Speakers Bureau
2022 Guest Lecturer, Monumental Anti-Racism class, Washington University in St. Louis
2022 Filipinos and the 1904 World's Fair: a legacy of race and empire, East Central College, Union, Missouri
2022 Filipinos and the 1904 World's Fair: a legacy of race and empire, Center for Diversity and Inclusion,
Washington University in St. Louis
2022 Featured Artist, Discovery Tour: Women and Art, Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
2022 Filipinos at the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis County Libraries Speaker Series
2022 Artist Talk, Stories we are told, Angad Arts Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri
2021-2024 Guest Lecturer, Archiving St. Louis: The City as the Crossroads of the World class,
Washington University in St. Louis
2020 Panelist, Good Words and Broken Promises, American Legacies of Manifest Destiny,
Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri
AWARDS
2025 1st Place, Reflections Unveiled: Contemporary Portraiture in the Digital Age
2023 Ann & Edgar Metzger Memorial Award
2023 Best of the Net Anthology
2021 Ann & Edgar Metzger Memorial Award
RESIDENCIES
2023 COCAedu University City High School Residency, St. Louis, Missouri
2021 Artist in Residence (virtual), Cel del Nord, Orîsta, Spain