Statement
April Werle paints tableaus of black-and-white hands acting out quotes from intimate, everyday scenes of her mixed Filipino American family. Her autobiographical work narrates how culture is internalized and negotiated by mixed-race individuals and multicultural families through small, impactful moments. Werle sets scenes with visual metaphors—displacing hands from their roots, combining brown stain and whitewash, and perpetually other-ing her rendered characters from their simplified, colorful, and tactile environments.
Bio
April Werle (b. 1995, USA) is a narrative painter based in Missoula, Montana, whose work explores mixed-race identity, family, and belonging. Her recent solo exhibitions include Secret Life of a Multicultural Couple, Bell Projects, Denver, CO; Halo-Halo: The Mixed Children, ZACC, Missoula, MT; and Mga Hunghong Sa Diwata (Whispers of Spirits), Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT. Werle is the recipient of the Emerging Artist Residency at Centrum Foundation (2024). She was honored with the Creative West BIPOC Artist Fund Award (2024), the Montana Arts Council Strategic Investment Grant (2023), and the Montana Arts Council ARPA Grant (2022). Werle’s work has been published in Create! Magazine, New Visionary Magazine, and Mahalaya.
