ARTIST STATEMENT

My work discusses the mental, emotional and spiritual realms. In one way or another, it is the human spirit that is represented in its various forms in my work. Whether through the stories told in my 90-second films that I manipulate using doodles and colors (@paulamarcondesart); or through symbols such as the heart, the cross, the crown of thorns, the ladder, the house, the family, nature; or through trash or light; it is always the same human spirit (www.paulamarcondesart.com).

I am essentially a performance artist who makes photographs, films, paintings, sculptures, objects and installations. My 25-year research, where I have explored themes of neuroscience, communication, resilience and sustainability, was initially expressed through the creation of hundreds of original lesson plans specific to the themes and audiences addressed (www.acthuman.com). These experiential sessions have involved thousands of adults of dozens of nationalities in several countries in Asia, including India, China and Japan, for over two decades.

There have been four defining points in my career as an artist: the development of a greater appreciation for contemporary art and acrylic painting under the tutelage of artist Patricia Cabaleiro in Singapore (2005-20), the diagnosis of breast cancer in 2009, the death of my mother, who I was unable to bury, in 2020 during the pandemic, and the visit to Inhotim in 2024. At Inhotim, one the the largest contemporary art museums in the world located in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, I discovered art, as well as what happens in my classes, as an experiential process in which the context is explained in a cognitive way, and the artist's message, and eventual transformation of perspectives, happens through the observer's senses when interacting with the work.
 

Paula Marcondes de Souza