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 works in video, performance, photography, installation and sculpture to explore subjects such as language, memory and identity.

Since 2019, the artist has worked regularly in East Asia (Japan, Taiwan and South Korea), exploring colonial legacies, philosophy and spirituality between the East and the West, namely Animism and Shintoism.

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: XVII Graphic Triennale Uppsala, 2024;  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.