Ana Amorim

With a conceptual artistic practice focused on her being alive, Ana Amorim works with different forms of registers: her movements, time and life itself. Since 1987, the artist develops extensive performances involving the register of mental maps. For decades, her practice was mediated by an Art Contract, a conceptual performance that acted on the circulation and presentation of her work in the art system.

Her art production addresses radically and obsessively the concept of routine, the passage of time and the role of an art space. Her research extrapolates a purely conceptual interest and embraces contemporary social debates, such as in her Transcommunicator performance and her work with social movements and indigenous peoples. Having life, itself, as an artistic framework, Ana Amorim materializes the registers of her actions in several techniques and supports —drawing, collage, embroidery, evidence gathering and videos.

With a degree in Fine Arts from Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, FAAP, São Paulo, Brazil (1986) Amorim lived abroad for long periods of time, where she developed her practice, which has been gaining space and projection in Brazil. She holds a Master’s degree in Painting and Art History from Ohio University, USA (1989), during which she comes into contact with the production of conceptual artists and begins her first performances. She also pursued a degree in Mathematics at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, PUC-SP (1976-1977), a Master’s degree in Aesthetics and Art Theory at Middlesex University, London (1998-1999) and a PhD in Fine Arts (School of Maori Studies) at the Massey University, New Zealand (2010-2012). Her most recent solo shows were held at Millan, São Paulo, Brazil (2023), Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil (2022), Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo – MAC-USP, São Paulo, Brazil (2021 and 1991), Espaivisor Gallery, Valencia, Spain (2019), Fundação Nacional de Artes – FUNARTE, São Paulo, Brazil (2009), Alternative Art Gallery, London, UK (1994) and Museu de Arte Moderna – MAM, São Paulo, Brazil (1992), among others.

Among the group shows the artist has participated in are: Tempos fraturados, MAC-USP, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Entre a Estrela e a Serpente, Galeria Leme, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); A Discourse of Uncertainties, 1MiraMadrid, Madrid, Spain (2020); Mesuras, Fundación Cerezales Antonino y Cinia, León, Spain (2019); Matrix for Actual Time, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo – MAC-USP, São Paulo, Brazil (2018) and mulher(es), Pinacoteca Benedicto Calixto, Santos, Brazil (2002).

Artist’s website