Laïla Mestari is a Moroccan-born artist who lives and works in Montreal. Anchored in a logic of collage and assemblage, her interdisciplinary practice examines themes around diasporic identity, cultural hybridity and belonging.  Recipient of several grants and awards such as the Joan Livingstone Merit Scholarship (2021), the FRQSC Research Scholarship (2021), the Irene F. Whittome Prize in Studio Arts (2017) and the Ada Lovelace Award (2016), Mestari showed her work in several group and solo projects across Canada, Sweden, Spain and the US. In 2022, she was part of the UCLA New Wight Biennial in Los Angeles, the Images Festival in Toronto and presented a solo show at Galerie 3 in Québec. Mestari’s work is part of the CPOA Collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Québec, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Hydro-Québec Collection and the Art Volt Collection. She holds a BFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University where she was nominated Valedictorian of the Faculty of Fine Arts (2017) and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2023).