Ana Elisa Egreja

Ana Elisa Egreja’s work focuses on the representation of still lifes and interior portraits, using collage and staging as fundamental procedures. By combining themes from the tradition of painting with disparate elements such as animals, everyday products, architecture, and other emblematic objects, Egreja creates richly detailed scenes of magical realism evoking art history and Brazil’s collective memory.

Her works, which represent an imprecise and non-linear temporality, spark reflections on domesticity, notions of good taste, memory, as well as the virtuosity in depicting textures, opacity, and luster of different materials.

Holding a BFA from Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado – FAAP, São Paulo, 2005, Egreja won the Incentive Prize — Energias na Arte, held by the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, in 2009, and the Acquisition Award from 15th Salão da Bahia, at the MAM Bahia, in 2008.

Egreja has held solo exhibitions in institutions such as Direktorenhaus, Berlin, Germany, 2022; MAM Bahia in Salvador, 2019; Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, 2016. Noteworthy group shows she has been featured in include Dieci, Palazzo Coardi di Carpeneto, Turin, Italy, 2023; Brasil Futuro: as formas da democracia, which took place in Brasília, Belém and Salvador in 2023; Brazilian Histories, MASP, São Paulo, 2022; Crossing the Borders of Photography, Somerset House, London, UK, 2019; and 20th Festival de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil, Sesc Pompeia, São Paulo, 2017.

Her works are part of the permanent collections of the Deji Art Museum, Nanjing, China; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy; Franks-Suss Collection, London, UK; Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway; MAR — Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; MASP — Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo, Brazil.