Joana Vasconcelos (born 1971) is a Portuguese

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

known for her large-scale installations.

Biography

Vasconcelos was born in 1971 in Paris, France. Her family returned home to Portugal after their exile to France and following the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

in 1974. She studied at the Centro de Arte & Comunicação Visual in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

. In 2009 she received the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

. She lives and works in Lisbon.

Work

Vasconcelos exhibited at the 2005

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

where she included ''A Noiva (The Bride)'', a 20 ft. high

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent ...

made of over 14,000 OB

Tampon A tampon is a menstrual product designed to absorb blood and vaginal secretions by insertion into the vagina during menstruation. Unlike a pad, it is placed internally, inside of the vaginal canal. Once inserted correctly, a tampon is held in ...

s. In June 2011, the installation "Contaminação" opened the group exhibition ''The World Belongs to You'', held at

Palazzo Grassi Palazzo Grassi (also known as the Palazzo Grassi-Stucky) is a building in the Venetian Classical style located on the Grand Canal of Venice (Italy), between the Palazzo Moro Lin and the campo San Samuele. History First owners During the 16th c ...

. In 2012, Vasconcelos showed her work at the major annual contemporary art exhibition in the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. She was the first woman and the youngest contemporary artist to exhibit in Versailles. In 2013 the artist represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

in a solo show at the country's pavilion at the

. The work "Trafaria Praia" was installed in an anchored boat and at the same time a floating

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

. In 2018 Vasconcelos presented the retrospective exhibition "I'm Your Mirror" at the

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Spa ...

, in Spain, having been the only

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

artist to accomplish the honor. The exhibition comprised 30 works representing 25 years of her artistic career. In 2020, Vasconcelos created a massive site specific work, "Valkyrie Mumbet" at the

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

Museum (MAAM) in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, MA. This exhibition was her first solo show in the United States. The work is part of a series of large scale pieces the artist creates for specific spaces, in homage to inspiring women connected with that location. This particular work honors Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman, an enslaved person in Massachusetts who sued to win her freedom.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

* 2020: ''Valkyrie Mumbet'', MassArt Art Museum, at the

, Massachusetts, United States * 2018: ''I'm Your Mirror'',

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Sp ...

, Bilbao, Spain * 2013: ''Trafaria Praia'', Portuguese Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, Italy * 2012: ''Royal Valkyrie'',

Château de Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed ...

, France * 2011: ''Res Publica'', Centenário da República,

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( pt, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One ...

, Lisbon, Portugal * 2010: ''I Will Survive'', Haunch of Venison,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, United Kingdom

Gallery

File:CCA Cafesjian Sculpture Garden.jpg File:Street Art Porto (38623540426).jpg File:Coração Independente Vermelho (Joana Vasconcelos).jpg File:Palácio de Belém - Joana Vasconcelos.jpg File:Nectar de Joana Vasconcelos.jpg File:Joana Vasconcelos - Pop Galo 2016 (32744196928).jpg, The ''Pop Galo'' in Barcelos (December 2018 - September 2019) File:Pop Galo (49687321337).jpg, The ''Pop Galo'' in the

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barbar ...

(March 7, 2020 - January 2022)

Notes

External links