Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, September 28, 2022: Joana Vasconcelos, a Portuguese sculptor (#1659)

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Artist of the Day, September 28, 2022: Joana Vasconcelos, a Portuguese sculptor (#1659)

Joana Vasconcelos (1971) is a Portuguese artist known for her large-scale installations.
She was born in Paris, France. Her family returned home to Portugal after their exile to France and following the Carnation Revolution in 1974. She studied at the Centro de Arte & Comunicação Visual in Lisbon. In 2009 she received the Order of Prince Henry.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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. This particular work honors Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman, an enslaved person in Massachusetts who sued to win her freedom

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