MARIA GARCIA
LIVE ARTIST, COSTUME DESIGNER, DIRECTOR
ABOUT
Maria Garcia is an award-winning director, costume designer, and live artist working across film, theater, dance, and performance art. Her interdisciplinary explorations often center around death, ‘liveness,’ pain, and migration. Maria is a member of the Costume Designers Guild, where she serves on the diversity committee.
Most recently, Maria has been developing her new live art cinema work titled Bees and Beasts and the Horrish FishTales which she has presented at The Place’s Resolution Festival 2025 in London, Emergency24 festival at Contact in Manchester, Present Voices at Electro Studios Project Space in St. Leonards on Sea with an artist residency at Spill Think Tank in Ipswich.
Maria has directed and costume designed music videos for Gal Musette, including “Je vois le ciel” and “Julia,” the latter of which won multiple awards, including Best Video and Best Director at the International Music Video Underground.
Maria costume designed Jessica Brunetto’s short film Sisters which received a nomination for the Grand Jury Award at SXSW in 2021. That same year, her live art film project Laocoön with Cabiria at 9, which she directed, wrote, and designed, premiered at REDCAT’s NOW Festival and was a semi-finalist at the London International Web and Shorts Film Festival. The project was created in collaboration with performing artist Samantha Mohr, cinematographer Wesley Cardino, and musician Grace Freeman.
In 2022, Maria’s costume design for The Wilds, a mixed-reality performance co-created and choreographed by her longtime collaborator Laurel Jenkins, premiered at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska. Maria has also designed costumes for the award-winning Theater of the Oppressed company Cardboard Citizens and made her film debut with The Answer to Everything by Streetwise Opera. Additionally, she has collaborated with the acclaimed theater designer and performance maker Mamoru Iriguchi on Into the Skirt (Frankfurt) and One Man Show (London).
Maria’s work in directing, performance-making, and costume design is playful and ritualistic, often touching on the absurd. Her artistic practice draws on her background in devised theater and carnival arts. Her other performance art works include Moon River (Manchester, London, Los Angeles) and Impart: Scenes of Abjection (Los Angeles). Maria is currently based in London.
AWARDED PRODUCTIONS
Julia Music Video - Winner: Best Music Video; Best Director; Best Solo Artist or Band, International Music Video Underground 2022. Winner: Best Drama; Best Costumes, Munich Music Video Awards. Honorable Mention: Best Overall Video, Munich Music Video Awards 2022. Best Art Video, Prague Music Video Awards 2022, Director, Costume Designer.
Director, Costume Designer
Laocoön with Cabiria at 9, Semi-finalist/Official Selection, London International Web and Shorts Film Festival, 2021.
Creator, Writer, Director, Designer: Maria Garcia
Like a Fish out of Water by Seven Sisters Group, World Stage Design Exceptional Achievement across all categories
Designer: Sophie Jump
Costume Supervisor: Maria Garcia
Mincemeat by Cardboard Citizens, Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2009, Best Design
Designer: Mamoru Iriguchi
Costumer: Maria Garcia
Contact
mgarcia.jo@gmail.com
Press:
Elephant // Emily Gosling // The Art of Dressing for Performance Art
Vents Magazine // Meet the Director, Costume Designer, and Cinematographer for Gal Musette’s Official Music Video Je vois le ciel, Maria Garcia and Wes Cardino // Jake Stern
buzzbands.la // Video: Gal Musette, ‘Je Vois le Ciel’ // Chris Arey
Kaltblut // Gal Musette Watching the Sky
Julia Official Music Video // EARMILK; Rolling Stone India; The Wild is Calling
Impart: Scenes of Abjection, See Dance// Jeff Slayton
The Answer to Everything, The Guardian // Guy Dammann
Inflatable Trio, Fjord // Victoria Looseleaf
Soma Path, See Dance// Jeff Slayton, Fjord// Victoria Looseleaf
Iphigenia: Book of Change, Bachtrack// Jeff Slayton
Image Action Text, Fjord// Victoria LooseLeaf
