Artist A. Adilia R. Cunha has never been particularly interested in staying inside the lines—whether on a canvas or in life. From an early age, art seemed less like a hobby to Adilia and more like a place of both refuge and escape. Encouraged by recognition among her school, family, and peers, she was rarely found without a pencil in hand; filling sketchbook pages with comic strips, animals, and portraits of faces she’d discover in magazines. When her grandfather passed away, he left behind a box of art supplies that she treated as both a gift and a responsibility. To this day, she often feels a connection to him in the studio. At seventeen, Adilia survived a near-fatal car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury, months of hospitalization, and years of rehabilitation. These experiences profoundly shaped her perspective, instilling an appreciation for the fleeting nature of time, a deep awareness of life's fragility, and a conviction to spend it living fully and authentically. That mindset soon led her across the country to attend the Art Institute of Vancouver, where she earned a diploma in Animation Art & Design before beginning a career in animation. In recent years, a portrait of her beloved beagle, Lyra, unexpectedly became the catalyst for an exciting new chapter. What began as a personal tribute to her best friend quickly evolved into an expanding portrait practice, leading Adilia to pursue fine art full-time and further refine her craft through The Mastery Program at The Milan Art Institute.
               Today, Adilia's mixed-media oil paintings blend expressive abstraction with both powerful wildlife and human imagery to explore the dualities of the human experience and a fully lived life. Her work moves between strength and softness, freedom and belonging, pursuit and surrender, inviting viewers to embrace the complexity of their own journey. Drawing from personal experiences of self abandonment, resilience, perpetual reinvention, and adventure, she creates work that resonates with those who’ve grown restless trying to fit neatly into the box marked ‘society’s expectations.’ Layers of bold color, glowing contrast, and symbolism create an emotional experience that is both visually striking and profoundly introspective. Through her paintings, viewers are invited to untether from the parts of themselves that have been waiting for permission to live life on their terms. Adilia says, “my work empowers those yearning for liberation; declaring from their walls that the only permission they need is their own.”
               At this time, Adilia’s studio is less a fixed destination than a traveling companion, often packed into the trunk of her Camaro and carried between Manitoba, British Columbia, and Florida. Shifting between commanding subject matter such as lions and fighters, vulnerable imagery in lovers and reaching hands, and scenes that makes the audience yearn for distant horizons, including wolves and the night sky, her current body of work poses two questions: What matters most: strength, connection, or freedom? And can you ever truly find one without embodying the others? Looking ahead, Cunha envisions exploring further beyond her comfort zone, not only artistically, but personally and geographically as well, while sharing her work with broader audiences around the world—creating work that encourages others to live boldly, deeply, and without apology.