I was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina, in 1987. After living through the siege of my hometown, my family and I fled in 1994 to the Adriatic coast of northern Croatia. Those two years by the sea were a time of peace and quiet renewal, and the landscape—shells, rocks, and intertidal life—left an enduring imprint on me. These memories continue to surface in my work today. In 1996, we immigrated to Toronto, Canada, where I’ve lived ever since.

My earliest and most important artistic influence has always been my father, painter Ciba Karisik. Under his guidance, I developed a dedicated studio practice and a deep respect for craftsmanship and observation. I attended Branksome Hall, where I was encouraged to pursue both writing and visual art, and later earned an Honours degree in Fine Art History from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College, specializing in Renaissance art. I continued my studies in experimental and figure drawing at the Toronto School of Art and completed coursework in art appraisal through the International Society of Appraisers.

From 2010 to 2020, I worked in the commercial gallery world—first with Odon Wagner Gallery and later with Loch Gallery—gaining hands-on experience in Canadian and international historical, post-war, and contemporary art. I also collaborated with Birt Fine Art Services, offering a range of collection-based services including installation, conservation planning, inventory documentation, deaccessioning, private sales, and appraisal facilitation.

While my work in galleries and collections management shaped my understanding of the art world, painting has remained at the heart of my creative life. My landscape work explores the intersection of memory, place, and the natural world, with water as a recurring motif. Recently, my focus has shifted closer to home as I look to Toronto's urban terrain for inspiration. This isn’t a departure from landscapes, but a continuation of my interest in place, atmosphere, and the tension between structure and fluidity. I paint a city that breathes, shifts, and mirrors itself with every glance.

Before pursuing my art practice full-time, I spent hours in high-rise offices working with corporate art collections, often looking down on the city and thinking, I’ll paint this one day. Now, I’m living that dream creating works on paper and canvas inspired by Toronto’s towering skyline. These cityscapes are loose and gestural rather than architecturally precise. They are responses to the city’s ever-changing energy. Buildings blur, lines dissolve, and gritty textures echo the feel of concrete. The result is a city rendered not in precision, but in motion.

Represented by Ingram Gallery in Toronto.