Following her training at the Ar.Co art school in Lisbon, Joana Vasconcelos has been awarded, among others, the EDP New Artists Award in 2000, and the Museu Coleção Berardo’s The Winner Takes It All award in Lisbon in 2006. Her work, showcased during important solo and group exhibitions both in Portugal and abroad, is striking for its inventiveness, chromatic exuberance and playful appearance. Many sculptures and installations are created by accumulating mundane objects: the enormous chandelier in A Noiva (The Bride, 2001-2005) presented at the Venice Biennale in 2005, is made of thousands of tampons, which, subverted from their usual function, provide an ironic view of the mechanisms of consumer society, while the title suggests a possible reference to the work of Marcel Duchamp. The artist examines the issue of feminine identity in numerous pieces, namely through the appropriation of domestic elements, such as crochet work or saucepans and lids, with which a series of giant high-heel shoes was made, for example (Shoes, 2007-2012). This appropriation and subversion strategy also touches on pop culture, and that of Portugal in particular: thus, the sumptuous Coração Independente works (Independent Heart, 2004-2008) evoke hints of both fado and traditional Portuguese jewellery, while actually being made with colourful plastic cutlery, a modern and trivial material; in Euro-Visão (Euro-Vision, 2005), a television set, transmitting the famous pop song contest is covered with crochet place mats, which are a common household occurrence. The artist has intervened on several occasions in public places, creating several large-scale works: for Varína (2008), she collaborated with several women to complete a monumental crochet work to be hung underneath the Dom Luís I bridge, in Porto. Her work was featured in an important monographic exhibition in 2010 at the Berardo Collection Museum. In 2012, she was invited to show her work in the Palace of Versailles, but her memorable “bride” was removed from the exhibition. She was the first (and so far the only) woman and the youngest artists to be invited to exhibit in Versailles.
Giulia LAMONI
See this illustrated text on the website of the Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions
