Biography 

Gilda Monreal (Chile) 

Gilda Monreal, who is also known by the artist name Fiya Buxa, is a Chilean director, writer, and multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. She is the co-founder and co-director of Essencia Art Collective, created to foster international community art projects aimed at empowerment and rebuilding social change. Gilda is the co-writer of the short film Cold (2011), in which she also acted. The short film was awarded Best Short at Women in Short in 2012 and was the official selection at the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival in 2016. Gilda is also the co-director and co-writer of the play Ayleen (2015), which was presented at the SummerWorks Festival in Toronto and the Caminos festival in Canada. She has participated in international festivals including Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD Festival (2016), the Asinabka Festival (2014), and Artscape in Sweden (2014). In 2012, Gilda’s artistic work was recognized by the Consulate General of Chile in Toronto. 

Gilda’s studio work is focused on creating graffiti, murals, and large-scale installations merging faces and stories about coming out of adversity. Her murals are located internationally, including Canada, New York, Sweden, the UK, Senegal, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. In 2015, she painted with the Essencia Art Collective in the largest collective mural festival in Canada.