© All content: Ana Mendes. Al rights reserved

  1. Ana Mendes, Ana, 2009, visual poetry, ink and rubber stamp on paper, size 297 x 210 mm © Ana Mendes

    Ana Mendes, Ana, 2009, visual poetry, ink and rubber stamp on paper, size 297 x 210 mm © Ana Mendes

    Ana Mendes is a Portuguese visual artist and writer living and working in Stockholm and London, where she finished an MA at Goldsmiths College (2011). She also studied video at Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden (2019) and animation film at La Poudriere, Valence, France (2008).

    Mendes creates works in video, performance, photography, video, text and installation to speak on subjects such as memory, language and identity. Her work is based on concept/idea and created with economy of means. Some of her projects are created in collaboration with artists, labour workers or scientists.Usually, she spends a considerable amount of time (2 years) on her own, undertaking research and experimenting until she finds a consistent concept. Only after that she may invite people to collaborate with her, consireating collaboration as interchange / dialogue rather than task-making. Since 2019, she has worked regularly in East Asia (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan), exploring questions of animism, context and nature. Mendes aims to create works that are meaningful, but still imaginative in formal terms. Her work is quite often described as poetic and minimalist.

    Recent solo shows include: Lewisham Art House, London (2023); Konstepidemin / GIBCA Extended 2021 (Gothenburg International Biennial Contemporary Art), Gothenburg, Sweden; Chelsea College, Telephone Gallery, London, UK, 2019; Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria; Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria, Akademie Schloss Solitude and Linden Museum Stuttgart, Germany (all 2017).

    Group shows include: Portuguese Sovereign Artist Award, Lisbon (2022), Royal Academy of Art, Summer Exhibition, 2021; Korean Gallery, Korean Cultural Centre, NY, USA; Taoyuan International Award, Taoyuan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan; Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition, Denmark (all 2021).

    Mendes has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: Taoyuan International Award, Honourable Mention and Audience Choice Award, Taoyuan Museum of Fine Art, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 2021; Artist Revelation Award ADAGP/ MAD Days, finalist, Paris/France, 2019; Jerwood Drawing Prize, second prize winner, London, UK, 2017; Honorable Mention, Prize of the Jury, MAAT Museum/Fuso Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016; MAC International Ulster Bank Prize, finalist, Belfast, UK, 2016; Prize of the Jury Sophiensaele, Festival 100 Grad, winner, Berlin, Germany, 2014; Act-Arriaga Prize, winner, Act Festival, Bilbao, Spain, 2012; Literary Award/ Dramaturgy, winner, City of Albufeira, Portugal, 2009; ‘This is not a competition’, co-winner, Artistas Unidos, Lisbon, Portugal, 2008. She has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, namely: Akademie Schloss Solitude 2015/17, Stuttgart, Germany; IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017, Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal, 2010/11.