Conference A chat with artist Francisca Carvalho

The visual artist Francisca Carvalho, born in Coimbra, has been consolidating her name in the national and international artistic scene. With a career marked by the intersection between philosophy and visual arts, Carvalho completed the Advanced Course in Visual Arts at Ar.Co, in Lisbon, in 2005, and graduated in Philosophy from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCSH) in 2009. Later, in 2016, she obtained a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), in the United States. During her studies, she was awarded prestigious scholarships, including a Fulbright grant and support from the Carmona e Costa Foundation and the Mount Royal School of Art.

Francisca’s work is characterised by the manipulation of symbols, which materialise in collages, drawings, and textile pieces. Her solo exhibitions have gained recognition, standing out in shows such as Chordata (Culturgest, Porto, 2016), Hasta (Museu Nacional de Artesanato e Tecelagem, New Delhi, India, 2018), Tiger Mountain (A Maior, Viseu, 2018), Loom (ArtWorks, Póvoa de Varzim, 2019), Às nonas, Midas nos dedos medram e mondam (Galeria Municipal de Almada, 2021), and Cosmic Tones (CIAJG, Guimarães, 2021). In 2018, she was one of the five finalists of the Art on Paper Navigator Prize exhibition at Chiado 8, in Lisbon.

Her career also includes a strong connection to artistic research. In 2018, Francisca Carvalho received grants from the Fundação Oriente and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which allowed her to deepen her knowledge of traditional techniques in India, such as natural dyes, kalamkari, and block printing, in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

In addition to solo exhibitions, the artist has participated in significant group shows, including Plano de Contingência (Galeria Cristina Guerra, Lisbon, 2023), Ninguém. Só eu (Centro de Arte Oliva, 2022), Farsa (Sesc Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil), Isolation, Oscillation (Outono Projects, New York, 2021), and Orto di Incendio (Instituto Nazionale per la Grafica di Roma, 2019).

Beyond her artistic production, Francisca Carvalho has played an active role in fostering the artistic community. She was co-founder and coordinator of Atelier Concorde, in Lisbon (2010–2014), taught Drawing and Painting at Ar.Co (2008–2021), and joined the Mount Royal School of Art master’s programme at MICA in Baltimore as a visiting artist (2020–2021).

With a solid career and work of great aesthetic and conceptual depth, Francisca Carvalho stands out as one of the most significant artists of her generation.