Mad in Madeira
BRINGING YOUNG ARTISTS TOGETHER FOR A SUSTAINABILITY TRIVIA
A contest created by the ARTE.M Association in partnership with the Art Center Caravel gallery and ARThubMadeira.
Madeira is a place that attracts thousands of tourists every year, a place considered by many to be a paradise. But is it really? Why are we crazy about life in Madeira? What makes us afraid? Climate change, pollution, overpopulation in the world... What do we want to shout, warn and prevent? What do we want to attract society's attention to?
Can art help us say it out loud? YES!
We decided to ask young Madeiran artists for help to create an exhibition together. The contest had 7 participants, all young artists residing on Madeira Island. Any young person between the ages of 18 and 25, individually, with or without academic training, had the opportunity to participate and bring their works of art inspired in materials originating from Madeira Island that included themes such as the environment, climate change, pollution and many more.
Cláudia Escórcio
Cláudia Escórcio was born in 2000 in the city of Funchal, Madeira. Graduated in Visual Arts at UMa, having during her academic career lived and studied in the United Kingdom and Spain. In her artistic practice, she has a strong interest in Abstract Expressionism, her greatest inspiration being Jackson Pollock; and in Linocut, a technique she first developed during one of the classes at university.
Cláudia does not like to call herself an artist, as she does not practice it daily, nor does she seek a career in the world of fine arts, she just likes to develop certain artistic practices as hobbies. In addition to works done with acrylic paint, most of her works are done in watercolours or charcoal, as it allows her to have a fluidity and expressiveness that she does not find with other materials.
However, in addition to painting and linocut, she has a passion for photography, seeking in recent times to progress in professional terms in this area.
Lara de Campos
Lara de Campos (Machico, 2002) is a visual artist, part of the Quimera collective and currently attending the Visual Arts course at UMa. Her artistic practice focuses mainly on painting. She seeks symmetry in composition and in most cases, the protagonist elements float in a dense, almost mystical atmosphere.
She makes use of an extensive chromatic palette to create violent contrasts, with taciturn tones standing out. Attaching great importance to aesthetics and using them to draw the viewer's attention. Through a critical perspective, she frames the emerging problems of today's society in dreamlike contexts, always including the figure of the Woman.
Luiza Lacerda
Luiza Lacerda also known as Shira Luhz, born in Aracaju - SE - Brazil. Visual Artist and Graffiti Artist. Since her childhood had an interest in the arts where she started by painting some canvas. In 2015 she migrated to Portugal where she studied Visual Arts expanding her knowledge and improving the techniques learned, focusing more in watercolour and acrylic paint on canvas.
In 2018, when she returned to Brazil, she expanded to projects with bigger dimensions like mural paintings with elements of nature and mandalas. In the same year she also got to know the Hip-Hop culture and consequently the graffiti that was love at first sight, where she started to leave her mark on the streets with representations of plants, minerals and women, mostly indigenous.
In Graffiti, Shira has been representing the female presence in a space that is recognized for being mostly male, breaking paradigms with revitalisation of degraded and even abandoned spaces, brightening city streets. This way, she began to mark her art on the walls of cities such as Aracaju, Recife, Salvador and other Brazilian cities, where she has participated in national and international events and meetings, such as Pão e Tinta, Cores Femininas and Graffiti e Aprendizagem.
Vanessa Aleixo
Vanessa Aleixo was born in Caracas-Venezuela. At the age of 15, emigrated to Madeira Island, Portugal. There she finished her third and secondary studies.
In 2020, she enrolled in university to continue her studies, graduating now in 2023 from the course of Design at UMa.
Thanks to a drawing course that her mother enrolled her in when Vanessa was little and to her Arts teacher, she developed a taste for the arts and drawing. Her portfolio counts with varies works in terms of material and theme, without a specific style. Vanessa considers herself a creative, consistent person who always looks for the best solution to resolve a proposal.
Karolina Jankiewicz
Karolina Jankiewicz is a student born in 2000 in Poznań, Poland. She is in her second year of Intermedia Photography studies held by Abakanowicz University of the Fine Arts in Poznań. Currently, she is participating in the Erasmus+ internship program by being a part of an art residency at Art Center Caravel in Funchal, Madeira. Her field of interest is mainly connected with photography though she uses various forms of expression.
Karolina's art is considered to be a part of artistic photography focused mainly on an intermedia approach towards her works. This attitude lets her explore diverse ways of communicating her intentions. Her art consists mostly of working with concepts, ideas and symbols. Contexts of her pieces are also an enormous hint in understanding the meaning of her work. Her creations have a moody atmosphere that draws an emotional aspect from its viewers.
Rodrigo Franco
Rodrigo Franco is a young man from Machico, Madeira Island. Born in 2002, he is currently studying Communication, Culture and Organizations at UMa.
His drive for artistic creation comes from a great interest in exploring both chaotic and fluid feelings related to nature and human psychology. Much of the inspiration comes from artistic movements like neoclassicism, romanticism as well as literary and philosophical movements, such as existentialism and absurdism, having as influence Nietzsche, Sartre, Dostoyevsky, Pessoa, Camus, amongst other thinkers.
He uses mainly digital photography and cinematography to convey his ideas and subliminal messages through symbolism, always trying to touch other forms of expression creating congruence between them.
Érica Gomes
Érica Gomes is a visual artist from Funchal who uses "minriogi" almost as a pseudonym. Born in 2003, Érica is currently attending the Visual Arts course at UMa. In 2023 she participated in the Santa Cruz Book Fair where she practiced selling original pieces and more. In her artistic practice, she has a strong interest in developing compositions that are "felt", exploring figurative and abstract elements.
She also seeks to represent, specifically, the red spectrum and its associated color theory - being a color whose symbolism is broad and where oppositions exist in that symbolism (e.g. anger, passion, heat, violence, power) recognising the universal color to signify strength, power, courage and danger. An essential aspect of her artistic approach is experimentation, in which she involves practices such as burning, tearing, stitching and gluing during the process. Through these techniques, she seeks to create works that convey emotional energy and provoke a visceral connection with the audience.
