Ana Jotta

Ana Jotta delves into various artistic domains, encompassing painting, sculpture, installation, sound, and photography. Additionally, she incorporates craft techniques such as sewing, embroidery, and pottery into her practice.

Biography of Ana Jotta

Ana Jotta was born in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1946. She pursued her art education at ESBAL – Escola de Belas Artes de Lisboa (Lisbon School of Fine Arts) and later at La Cambre in Brussels.

Following her studies, she embarked on a diverse career path, serving as both an actress and a decorator for cinema and theater from 1976 to 1979. However, her passion for visual arts gradually took precedence, leading her to shift her focus exclusively to this realm in the 1980s.

Ana Jotta received several awards during her artistic career, including Grande Prémio EDP (2013), Prémio AICA (2014), Rosa Schapire Art Prize (2017), and Grande Prémio Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (2023). 

Her recent solo exhibitions include "Never The Less" at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco (2023), "Never Never Land" at ProjecteSD in Barcelona (2023), "Ana Jotta: Soliloquy" at Greengrassi in London (2022), "Ana Jotta" at Keijiban in Ishikawa (2021), and many more. 

Ana Jotta's artworks have been featured in various group exhibitions, including "#Slow #Stop … #Think #Move. Território #2" at Fidelidade Arte in Lisbon (2023), "Are Artworks Contemporary?" at Galeria Madragoa in Lisbon (2022), "ULTRA BY TNHCH" at Frac Bretagne in Rennes (2021), "The imaginary museum" at ProjecteSD in Barcelona (2021), among others. The artist has also presented her art at major art fairs and biennales (Liverpool Biennial, Africus Johannesburg Biennale). 

Ana Jotta's Art Style

Ana Jotta has constructed her artistic trajectory through a series of breakthroughs that encapsulate a form of erasure: of her own past paths, of modernist ideologies and post-modern mythologies, and of the concept of authorship. Whether deconstructing or reconstructing it, she aims to disrupt the notion of a cohesive or singular style. Utilizing a minimalist approach, her work exhibits a profound intelligence and wit.

Renowned for her incisive irony and critique concerning notions of authorship and originality, her oeuvre is remarkably diverse and eclectic in its conception, formulation, and presentation. Occupying a realm of creative freedom, Jotta employs an extensive array of techniques, including painting, collage, performance, drawing, assemblage, photography, installation, sculpture, sound, video, embroidery, engraving, writing, and the appropriation of objects from diverse sources.