Joana Vasconcelos

For the Portuguese sprint canoer, see Joana Vasconcelos (canoeist).

Joana Vasconcelos
Vasconcelos in 2018
Born1971 (1971)
Paris, France
NationalityPortuguese
Known forSculpture
AwardsOrder of Prince Henry
Websitejoanavasconcelos.com

Joana Vasconcelos (born 1971) is a Portuguese artist known for her large-scale installations.

Biography

Vasconcelos was born in 1971 in Paris, France.[1] Her family returned home to Portugal after their exile to France and following the Carnation Revolution in 1974.[2] She studied at the Centro de Arte & Comunicação Visual in Lisbon.[3] In 2009 she received the Order of Prince Henry.[4] She lives and works in Lisbon.[3]

Work

Vasconcelos exhibited at the 2005 Venice Biennale where she included A Noiva (The Bride), a 20 ft. high chandelier made of over 14,000 OB Tampons.[3]

In June 2011, the installation "Contaminação" opened the group exhibition The World Belongs to You, held at Palazzo Grassi.[3]

In 2012, Vasconcelos showed her work at the major annual contemporary art exhibition in the Palace of Versailles. She was the first woman and the youngest contemporary artist to exhibit in Versailles.[5]

In 2013 the artist represented Portugal in a solo show at the country's pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The work "Trafaria Praia" was installed in an anchored boat and at the same time a floating art gallery.[6]

In 2018 Vasconcelos presented the retrospective exhibition "I'm Your Mirror" at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, in Spain, having been the only Portuguese artist to accomplish the honor. The exhibition comprised 30 works representing 25 years of her artistic career.[7]

In 2020, Vasconcelos created a massive site specific work, "Valkyrie Mumbet" at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design Museum (MAAM) in Boston, 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.[8] This particular work honors Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman, an enslaved woman whose court battle for her freedom in 1781 helped make slavery illegal in Massachusetts.[9]

In 2024, she exhibited her Valkyrie Mumbet (2020) installation and towering Tree Of Life (2023), with its 110,000 hand-stitched fabric leaves at the launching of the newly opened Malta International Contemporary Arts Space (MICAS).[10]

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Group exhibitions (selection)

Notes

  1. ^ Lamoni, Giulia. "Joana Vasconcelos". AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes. Translated from French by Toby Cayouette. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. ^ Morrill, Rebecca; Wright, Karen; Elderton, Louisa, eds. (2019). Great Women Artists. London: Phaidon Press. p. 425. ISBN 978-0714878775. OCLC 1099690505.
  3. ^ a b c d "Joana Vasconcelos". National Museum of Women in the Arts. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas". Presidency of the Portuguese Republic. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  5. ^ Politanoff, Evelyne (26 June 2012). "Versailles by Joana Vasconcelos". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  6. ^ Brady, Helen (29 November 2016). "Joana Vasconcelos's Floating Pavilion For Portugal At The Venice Biennale". Culture Trip. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  7. ^ Wright, Karen (13 July 2018). "Joana Vasconcelos holds up a mirror at the Guggenheim Bilbao". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  8. ^ Guerra, Cristela (21 February 2020). "MassArt Opens A New Contemporary Art Museum, And It's Free". WBUR. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Joana Vasconcelos - Valkyrie Mumbet". MassArt Art Museum. 2020. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  10. ^ "MICAS: Malta opens its first national contemporary arts museum". euronews. 1 November 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  11. ^ "Joana Vasconcelos – Plug-in". MAAT. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Inaugural: Joana Vasconcelos at the MassArt Art Museum – Boston, MA". Portuguese American Journal. 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Joana Vasconcelos. I'm Your Mirror". Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. 2018. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  14. ^ Amado, Miguel (23 August 2013). "Trafaria Praia: On the Waterfront". Installation Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  15. ^ Dagen, Philippe (3 July 2012). "Joana Vasconcelos: Versailles – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  16. ^ McLean-Ferris, Laura (6 August 2010). "Joana Vasconcelos: I Will Survive, Haunch of Venison, London". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  17. ^ "História das Exposições - Res Publica. 1910 e 2010 Face a Face" [History of Exhibitions - Res Publica. 1910 and 2010 Face to Face]. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (in European Portuguese). 7 January 2010. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

Further reading

  • Vasconcelos, Joana (2019). Joana Vasconcelos. Christian K. Scheffel, Christof Trepesch, Peter Joch, Galerie Scheffel. Köln, 2019. ISBN 978-3-86832-399-3. OCLC 1090543439.
  • Vasconcelos, Joana (2019). Joana Vasconcelos: maximal. Achim Sommer, Max Ernst Museum. Munich. ISBN 3-944453-15-8. OCLC 1110580869
  • Vasconcelos, Joana (2018). I'm your mirror. Enrique Juncosa, Petra Joos, Isalina Conde, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Museu Seralves, Kunsthal Rotterdam. Bilbao. ISBN 978-84-17048-81-5. OCLC 1057784624.