Vanessa da Silva
Terra em Transe, 2022
etching with colour pencil on Somerset paper
19 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. / 49.9 x 44.5 cm
Born and raised in São Paulo, Vanessa da Silva (b. 1976) has lived in London since the early 2000s.
Working across sculpture, textiles, installation and performance, da Silva's practice interweaves the personal with the political, her work explores themes around nationality, identity, migration and displacement, reflecting her own experiences as a Latin American immigrant to the UK.
Drawing inspiration from Brazilian art history, natural elements, dance and choreography, da Silva explores links between the body and its surroundings to consider Brazilian identity and otherness. She is interested in the space between nationalities and the complicated borders where identity and cultures meet and exist together.
Vanessa da Silva was an artist in residence at the East London Printmakers in Mile End, London in 2022. During the one year fellowship award, da Silva reconnected with the printmaking medium she learned as a teenager while studying at Oswald de Andrade's Institute in São Paulo.These works on paper depict natural forms from the artist's imagination, while the acid colours and forms reflect on a post natural, synthetic and tropical world.
Vanessa da Silva holds an MA Painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2017), and a BFA in Product Design from FAAP, São Paulo (1999). In 2023 da Silva was selected for the 12th edition of Sculpture in the City, London, and in 2020 she was the recipient of both the Hopper Prize, USA and the Gilbert Bayes Award from the Royal Society of Sculptors, UK.
In 2022, da Silva was awarded the East London Printmakers fellowship, UK, and in 2017 she received the Ox-Bow Residency Award. In 2020 she participated at FAAP residency, São Paulo and in 2019 at Pivô Research Residency, São Paulo. Da Silva has exhibited in the UK and internationally with with her most recent projects including The Box at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2023), Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Seoul, KR (2023), MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK (2023), Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (2022), La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES (2022), 019 Ghent, Ghent, BE (2022), Frieze Sculpture, London, UK (2021), Hospitalfield, Arbroath, GB (2019).