Ana Mendes

Ana Mendes is a visual artist and writer working and living in London and Stockholm. She studied writing for performance at Goldsmiths College London UK, video at Royal Institute of Art Stockholm, Sweden, and animation film at La Poudriere, Valence, France.

Mendes creates works in video, performance, photography, video, text, concrete poetry and installation to speak on subjects such as memory, language and identity.

Some of her works are created in collaboration with other people – be they artists, labour workers or scientists. She follows a method, in which she spends a considerable amount of time by her own experimenting and playing with new ideas, until she arrives at a concept that she finds sustainable. Afterwards, she invites other people to collaborate with her. Together with these invited guests, they go through a mutual process of learning through error, trial and mistake.

Recent solo shows include: Konstepidemin, GIBCA Extended (Gothenburg International Biennial Cotemporary Art), Gothenburg, Sweden, 2021; Chelsea College, Telephone Gallery, London, UK, 2019; Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria; Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria, 2017 and Linden Museum Stuttgart, Germany, 2017. Group shows include: Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 2021; Taoyuan International Award, Taoyuan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan, 2021; Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition, Denmark, 2021; Korean Cultural Centre NY, USA, 2021; Gothenburg International Biennial Contemporary, Gothenbourg, Sweden (2021).

Mendes has been the recipient of numerous awards, nominations and fellowships, including: Taoyuan International Award, Honourable Mention and Audience Choice Award, Taiwan, 2021; Artist Revelation Award ADAGP/ MAD Days, finalist, Paris/France, 2019; Jerwood Drawing Prize, second prize winner, London, UK, 2017, Prize of the Jury, Honorable Mention, MAAT Museum/Fuso Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016; MAC International Ulster Bank Prize, finalist, Belfast, UK, 2016; Prize of the Jury Sophiensaele, winner, Berlin, Germany, 2014; Fellowship Akademie Schloss Solitude 2015/17, Stuttgart, Germany; IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017, Fellowship Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal, 2010/11/13/16, among others.

Mendes serves on the advisory board of Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, Fellowship programme, since 2020.

More details at: www.anamendes.com