Marbella Carlos is a Manila-born visual artist based in Montreal, Canada. She holds an MA in Creative Arts Therapies (Art Therapy) from Concordia University, a BFA in Visual Arts (With Distinction) from the University of Calgary and a B.Ed. in Visual Arts Education (With Distinction) from the University of Toronto and has participated in artist residencies with Artscape Toronto and the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation. Her recent work focuses on using burlesque under the moniker Joy Rider as a medium to exercise control over one’s body and sexuality. By doing so, burlesque affords her the opportunity to create captivating comedic vignettes of performance art, while interrogating issues such as the complexity of acculturation as an immigrant settler living in the diaspora. Marbella won the prestigious Bunny Competition at the Edmonton International Burlesque Festival. Her project within Alliance 2020-21 uses performance to create interpretations of pre-colonial folklore creatures from the Philippines.