My Story:

My interest in art started around the age of 13 and was born out of a passion for music – the desire to represent through images the musicians I loved so much and what their songs meant to me. From that initial spark I started branching out into different themes and developing my skills and ideas, I also gained a curiosity about the history of art and the way other artists represented the world, their thoughts, passions and ideas.

In 2010 I enrolled in Escola Secundária Astística António Arroio, an arts specialized high school in Lisbon and in 2013 graduated with a major in ceramics (it was there that I was introduced to this new medium, which I loved and really enjoyed exploring). During those three years I took part in 3 group exhibitions (at the National Tile Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art and at Palácio Galveias), I also illustrated a children’s book published by an Australian publisher in 2013.

After high school I continued to develop my own personal work, mainly paintings, drawings and printmaking word focused mostly on people, culture, literature, history and very much inspired by cinema.

I started the first year of the Sculpture Degree at Faculdade de Belas Artes Universidade de Lisboa but after a year decided to enrol in the Drawing and Painting Degree at Ar . Co (another university in Lisbon). Since then I’ve participated in a number of group exhibitions both in Portugal and abroad – especially in Ireland.

I also collaborated with the poet Gerry Brennan to create a book of illustrated poetry, that consists of 37 poems and 40 drawings based on said poems, which was published by a small American publisher based in New York and was also published in a translated version by a Portuguese publisher.

I’m currently based in Lisbon where I have my studio and continue to explore different ideas and mediums, my favourites being: pen and watercolors, printmaking, oil painting and most recently mural painting. My work reflects the way I observe and perceive the world, I prefer to incorporate myself into it as both, a silent voyeur and as an enquirer who seeks to learn more about the subjects and their emotional state and predicaments they face.

My subject is mostly people and how they relate to space (be it physical or psychological). Being influenced by other art forms like literature and cinema, I try and use a narrative to suggest what the characters are doing, may just have done or are about to do. As well as thoughts or doubts they might be experiencing.

I base a lot of my work on still frames from old, now forgotten, movies and equally so from old discarded photographs in an attempt to renew or reanimate the old and poignant images that I see as still worthy of life.

CV

EDUCATION:

• 2019 Individual Project on Printmaking – Ar.Co, Lisbon
• 2018 Advanced Course in Visual Arts – Ar.co, Lisbon
• 2016 Drawing and Painting Degree – Ar.co, Lisbon
• 2013 Arts Specialised High School Degree – Escola Sacundária Artística António Arroio, Lisbon

EXHIBITIONS:

• 2020 Participation in “Home Mural Fest”, a festival with over 60 artist from all over the word creating murals in their home – Void Projects
• 2020 Group Exhibition “MOSTRA2020” at Antigo Instituto da Água – Lisboa, Portugal
• 2020 “Bolseiros & Finalistas ’19, Group Exhibition at Museu de Lisboa –   Lisboa, Portugal
• 2020 Group Exhibition “Prémio de Pintura e Escultura D. Fernando II” at MUSA Museu de Artes de Sintra – Sintra, Portugal
• 2019 Group Exhibition “Plastika19” at Museo do Mar de Galicia – Vigo, Spain­
• 2019 Large scale outdoor mural as a part of the Arte Pública project by Fundação EDP – Capinha, Fundão, Portugal
• 2019 “Jov’arte – Bienal Jovem 2019” Group Exhibition at Galeria Municipal Vieria da Silva – Loures, Portugal
• 2019 Group Exhibition “À Descoberta do Mestre” at Centro Cultural Gil Vicente – Sardoal, Portugal
• 2019 “Bienal de Artes Plásticas de Santa Catarina”, Group Exhibition – Leiria Portugal
• 2019 Solo Exhibition “Up Close and Far Away” at Custom House Studios and Gallery – Westport, Mayo, Ireland
• 2019 9thInternational Ceramic City Biennial of Talavera – Ciudad de Talavera, Spain
• 2019 5thInternational Biennial of Art from Espinho – Espinho, Portugal
• 2019 “Bolseiros & Finalistas ’18 Parte II”, Group Exhibition at Ar.Co –   Lisboa, Portugal
• 2018 Solo Exhibition “In The Jockey’s Room” and “Far Away and Close Up” in Casa da Cultura dos Olivais – Lisboa, Portugal
• 2018 Group Exhibition “Chronicles of a Future Foretold” at 33 Contemporary – Chicado, U.S.A
• 2018 XX Bienal Internacional de Arte de Cerveira – Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal
• 2018 Cromática V Bienal de Pintura Joven – Museo Municipal de Ourense, Spain
• 2018 “Base Lx” Group Exhibition at Forte Santo António da Barra, Estoril, Portugal
• 2017 “Summer Exhibition” at Ar.Co – Lisbon, Portugal
• 2017 Group Exhibition “Destination C.Q. Window” – Belfast, U.K.
• 2017 “XV Artis” Festival de artes de Seia – Seia, Portugal
• 2016 “Fall Exhibition” at Ar.Co – Lisbon, Portugal
• 2016 Group Exhibition “Galway 1916 Exhibition” at Connacht Tribune Print Works. – Galway, Ireland
• 2015 Solo Exhibition at Atelier Bombarda – Lisbon, Portugal
• 2015 Group Exhibition “Poetry in Visual” at Museu da Cidade de Aveiro – Aveiro, Portugal
• 2014 Group Exhibition “Aresta com Aresta, Ceramics Retrospective” at António Arroio – Lisbon, Portugal
• 2013 Group Exhibition “IlustraLisboa” at Palácio das Galveias – Lisbon, Portugal
• 2013 Group Exhibition “Copos de Terra” at The National Museum of Contemporary Art – Lisbon, Portugal
• 2013 Group Exhibition “Interpretação contemporânea de azulejos do século XVII” National Tile Museum – Lisbon, Portugal

PUBLICATIONS:

• 2019 Issue 8 of Pressing Matters Magazine
• 2018 Catalogue of Bienal de Cerveira 2018
• 2016 “Claro Escuro” Poems by Gerry Brennan, illustrations by Mariana Santos, Obnósis Editora
• 2016 Fall Issue, Center Stage Magazine
• 2015 “Light and Shade” Poems by Gerry Brennan, illustrations by Mariana Santos, Pski’s Press
• 2015 Vol. XXXI No. 2, The MacGuffin
• 2012 Issues 16, A Public Space