Joana Vasconcelos Portugal, b. 1971

Born in Paris, Vasconcelos is one of the best-known contemporary artists currently living and working in Lisbon. In her practice, she explores themes of identity, gender and consumer culture, incorporating everyday objects and materials, such as textiles, ceramics, and household appliances, which she transforms into monumental and provocative sculptures.

The work of Vasconcelos revolves around ceramics, yarn, fabric, and cloth. These materials serve as the basis for her vibrant, larger-than-life, three-dimensional sculptures, as well as for her elaborate, surreal creations that transform ordinary objects, furniture, tools, ceramics, and figurines. Joana Vasconcelos elevates these mediums and their techniques that are typically associated with applied arts and artisanship to the status of fine art. Her approach involves techniques of alienation and repurposing, which brings her works closer in style and strategy to those of the Surrealist artists.

Vasconcelos has exhibited her work internationally, including twice at the Venice Biennale (2005) (2013), the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2018) and the Palace of Versailles (2012), being the youngest female artist to exhibit at the palace. She recently displayed a monumental site specific installation for the Dior Fall-Winter 2023-2024 fashion show, at the Paris Fashion Week; the WEDDING CAKE, a commission from the Rothschild Foundation for Waddesdon Manor in the United Kingdom and the exhibition Between Sky and Heart at the Uffizi, in Florence.

Selected Exhibitions

2025 – Flamboyant, Palacio de Liria, Madrid

2024 – Joana Vasconcelos, Baró Galeria, Mallorca

2024–2025 – Extravagâncias, Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitiba

2023 – Plug-in, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon

2020 – Valkyrie Mumbet, MassArt Art Museum, Boston

2018 – I’m Your Mirror, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

2013 – Trafaria Praia, Portuguese Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice

2012 – Royal Valkyrie, Château de Versailles

Collections

– Museu Oscar Niemeyer (MON), Curitiba

– Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon

– Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas (MACE), Elvas

– Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon

– National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), Washington, D.C.

– FC Porto Museum, Porto