CALLIGRAPHY

Installation

The works of Catarina Branco are a call to contemplation, contradicting the velocity of our lives in present times. This is due to the fact that those works are inherently Azorean, ready to teach a lesson of hope and joy to all mankind. The piece on the ground, "calligraphy", which covers much of the White Room, at the Marquês de Pombal palace, is directly related to the artist's personal history and her living as a child at "Fenais da Luz". The connection with her paternal grandmother, who showed her the traditions of paper cutting, the use of perishable materials, the construction of flower carpets for religious processions and the playful side of someone who lived happily in the contained space of her house, is also there. This is also a way to travel, but this time, towards the interior, the intimate. We can also say that this work makes reference to the characteristic ways of other civilizations - their side of interbreeding or hybridization.

CATARINA BRANCO was born in São Miguel, Azores in 1974. She lived her childhood and adolescence at Fenais da Luz, rural parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada. 

In 2000 she finished her degree in Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Lisbon University. She attended workshops in printmaking, drawing and painting - guided by the artists Bartolomeu dos Santos, João Pedro Queiroz and Pedro Calapez, respectively. In 1999 she was awarded the Prize D. Fernando II for Painting and Sculpture , at Sintra.

She has participated in international biennials such as the one held at Vila Nova de Cerveira and international contemporary art events.  Among the exhibitions held, stand out "Fenais da Luz" (2010), at Fonseca Macedo Gallery - Contemporary Art, Ponta Delgada, "Fez-se Luz" (2012), at the Carlos Machado Museum, Ponta Delgada, and in 2013 at the Cultural Center CEEE Erico Veríssimo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.  Her works are part of several private and public collections.

She is represented by Fonseca Macedo Gallery - Contemporary Art at Ponta Delgada, Azores.