Serena Gabriels is an interdisciplinary artist working in the Boston area. Her work explores the subjects of mental health awareness and play. Using her own lived experience with mental illness, Serena creates work that visualizes feelings that many cannot put into words. By combining video and the use of her body as a canvas, she brings invisible sensations to light. Her hope is that other people may find language for their own states of mind and body. It is her intention to communicate compassion for these experiences and convey the message that we are not alone.

Working at an elementary school, Serena engages her imagination daily to keep up with games of pretend and creativity. She recognizes the positivity that comes from being with children and embracing her own wonder, demonstrating the importance of play for one's well being. Serena explores how to approach play as a “grown up”, with performances and installations that engage the imaginative mind. Seeking to bridge the gap between child and adult imagination, her work aims to be accessible to all ages, inviting the audience to play. She creates spaces that tap into the world of pretend and enable one to learn what it means to be a child again. 

Serena presented “Primary Colors” at the Midway gallery in the exhibition Register Disrupt Visionary in 2022. Working alongside Edward Monovich in his Dadabex series, she performed at Fog X Flow on the Emerald Necklace in 2018. Serena held her own solo exhibition “Mirror” at the Godine Gallery at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2019.