Inside my head (and hands) many travels and fascinations exist. Everyday life feeds my artistic compulsions in many ways. At the beginning, I focused on childhood themes and on the exploration of the creatures that were presented to me in my dreams; afterwards things changed, not because the subject matter run out, but because when I work under different conditions and places there’s a part of me that leaves and a new one that takes its place. When I started this path, I took refuge (or plunged myself) in the (safe) uncertainty of two-dimensionality. I’ve always created images/artworks from my imagination, reality only interests me because from it I take materials I can use. One day, in London, someone dumped a lot of toys in front of the building I lived in. I saved many and took them to my studio at the Slade School of Fine Art. The giant stuffed tiger sat on my side on the bus with sunglasses on, due to the intense light! From then on, I utilized a lot of what I found in my work. The only things I didn’t use were the first toys, I did not touch them because they had been the messengers.
After some time not painting (I had been creating objects and sculptures of doubtful duration) emerged a fascination with the tensions I could create between the realms of painting and sculpture. Then I started to paint again but I ‘profaned’ the canvas and the paper – I cut them, glued objects and materials I found on top of them, I wanted the world to get inside them. Later I focused my efforts on sculpture not only because I had accumulated many materials and objects but also because it interested me to explore contrasts between noble (classic) materials and banal (poor) ones in a continuous and very intimate experimental work which served me to scan my identity.
Besides all this, my work always consisted in a personal mythology (a domestic one) and arises also from a growing interest in ancient civilizations, religions, esoterism, mysticism. Stories, characters and questions emerge, and I give them the shape they need to become visible. I’m interested in staging my work and of its ability to situate itself in a limbo between the visible and the invisible (what is said and what is muted). I prefer immersion to comprehension.
(Porto, 1986)
Lives and works in Celorico da Beira, Portugal
2012 – 2021
Invited assistant professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Porto, Portugal.
Education
2009 – 2011
Masters in Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK;
2004 – 2008
BA in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Porto, Portugal.
Solo Exhibitions
2021
Things I think about but don't say (as a matter of politeness), CAAA - Center for Art & Architecture Affairs, Guimarães, Portugal
2017
Joana BC | Those who listen to the sounds (and many cries) of the World, Edge Arts, Espaço Amoreiras, Lisbon, Portugal
2012
Just love me, Trélex Residency, Switzerland
Group Exhibitions
2023
Parla del tuo villaggio [2] - Paint your own village [2], KORA - Centro del Contemporaneo, Castrignano de' Greci, Italy
Wireless, Córtex Frontal, Arraiolos, Portugal | Plato, Évora, Portugal
2022
Aliar uma solidão a outra, A Sede, Porto, Portugal
From skin to skin, Musée d’Art Roger-Quilliot, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2021
UIVO 11 - Maia illustration show, Fórum da Maia, Portugal;
Everything happens, everything is___, Viarco | Portuguese Pencil Factory, São João da Madeira, Portugal
2019
Textile in Art, Centro Cultural Municipal Adriano Moreira, Bragança, Portugal;
Détours et dérives - Biennale internationale du lin de Portneuf, Moulin de la Chevrotière, Deschambault, Québec, Canada
2018
Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art _Contextile 2018, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães, Portugal;
XX Cerveira International Art Biennial, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal;
ARTIS XVI – Festival de Artes de Seia 2018, Casa Municipal da Cultura de Seia, Portugal
2017
Dans le rôle, Museu São João de Deus, Sintra, Portugal;
Arte de Bolso 2017, Galeria Sete, Coimbra, Portugal
2016
Seepferdchen und flugfische / Seahorses and flying fish, Forum Alte Post, Pirmasens, Germany;
Seepferdchen und flugfische / Seahorses and flying fish, Thermen am Virhmarkt, Trier, Germany;
Seepferdchen und flugfische / Seahorses and flying fish, Arp Museum Banhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany
2015
Made in Balmoral: Joana BC | Ahram Kwon, Bad Ems, Germany
2013
Colectiva, Centro das Artes do Espectáculo, Sever do Vouga, Portugal
2011
MA/MFA Slade Degree Show 2011, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK;
Foire Internationale du Dessin 2011, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France;
Art in Focus Black and White Flower Painting, Imperial College Healthcare Charity Arts Committee, London, UK
2010
MA/MFA Slade Interim Show, Woburn Square, London, UK;
Istanbul was Constantinople, Hush Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2008
Colectiva de Verão 08, Galeria Corrente d'Arte, Lisbon, Portugal;
As Belas e os Maus, Maus Hábitos, Porto, Portugal;
Salão Corporativo, Plano B, Porto, Portugal
Residencies
2022
Magic Carpets, Kaunas, Lithuania
Wireless, Córtex Fronta, Arraiolos, Portugal
Default 22, Ramdom Association, Kora Contemporary Art Center, Castrignano de’Greci, Italy
2021
Viarco | Portuguese Pencil Factory Alexandra Rafael, André Silva, Cláudia Lopes, Francisco Venâncio, Joana BC, São João da Madeira, Portugal
2019
BILP - Biennale internationale du lin de Portneuf, Deschambault, Québec, Canada
2015
Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany
2012
Trélex Residency, Trélex, Switzerland
Awards | Fellowships
2019
Biennale internationale du lin de Portneuf artist-in-residence program invited artist , June - July 2019, Deschambault, Québec, Canada
2015
Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral Fellowship for artist in residence, June – August 2015, Bad Ems, Germany
Publications
Joana BC - Parsimin's Life (according to the palm reader), 2021 Publishers: Stolen Books and CAAA, Lisboa, Portugal
contextile 2018 (in)organic (catalogue), 2018
Contemporary textile art biennial
Pages: 84 - 85
traditional visual arts and digital arts the speech of dis(order) (catalogue), 2018
XX Cerveira International Art Biennial 2018
Page; 175
Dans le rôle (catalogue), 2017
Publisher: P28 / Museu São João de Deus, Portugal
Seepferdchen und Flugfische / 2015 (catalogue), 2016
Publisher: Salon Verlag, Germany
Pages: 77-78, 90-92
FID Drawings for the Future (catalogue), 2011
Publisher: Lelivredart, Paris
Page: 101