Joana de Oliveira Guerreiro
Artist originally from Lisbon, she saw art in her daily life since she was a child. However this was limited to a hobby as her parents did not see a career potential in the art world. Due to this Oliveira Guerreiro missed out on the time to experiment with art in education and focused her efforts on political science to impress and satisfy her parents expectations. However in her master studies she decided to move overseas to London studying Brazilian culture. After this she took another change to military strategy working in the Portuguese Navy and she really enjoyed these opportunities and the importance of the work she was doing for civilians in war zones. However she would always revert back to art as a hobby or coping method. She took up photography as a practise that she could do while travelling for her career. She really enjoyed using basic and old cameras that give the low resolution and imperfections that related to the scenes she was in. Using disposable cameras was a more exciting process that she couldn't reveal until they were developed. This encourages me to get back into photography as during the course i have only seen it as a means of documentation and source images, however the compositions and effects of her work gave me the feeling that it was art again, that it can be manipulated, changed and improved like any other medium. She was capturing places and environments that don't appear beautiful and showing them as still homes, cities and places of life hopefully to be restored. I see this to be a good topic for art as it can be a conversation starter that encourages good action.
Since then she has made the move back to England to focus on art and catch up on the years of experimenting and defining her practise. Choosing Liverpool for its great art connections, vibrancy and diverse culture. This encourages me to explore more of what Liverpool has to offer as inspiration or opportunities. To access professionalism she enrolled on an art course at a later stage in her life than anticipated, but nether the less began to develop more of a style. Painting being her main medium she went large scale utilising materials from scrapyards and recycling what ever she found. This is a great idea to use industrial waste of large decorating companies ect that can also link further into the meanings of pieces. Using narrative in her paintings helps her to connect to them and be more passionate and involved with the process. This is a way that many of us, including myself, gain an emotional attachment to our pieces. For me it is usually my favourite and most technically impressive piece which I don't feel I can sell as it shows my progression. This is what I imagine her feelings are towards the piece that tell the story of her life in London being a chef through accident, but developing passion. She took this connection a step further by promoting her first exhibition with free food and she had a huge turn out because of it. Utilising and being clever is the best way to gain attention, not luck in the art world. I am not impressed by the overall appearance and technique of her pieces due to the simplicity and humour, but her story and method of developing her practise is beneficial to my own as it gives me a more appreciative aspect on the support I have for my passion. To catch up on lost experimentation she is living in her studio space which for me is not a great way to develop as you need the space and divide between life and art to have a fresh look at your work to see what needs to be improved. This for me takes weeks sometimes where I'll leave a project and get back to it in time with the fresh ideas that have most likely sparked from another part of my life other than art. I feel it is dangerous to mix both like she is as it can halt you and add pressure to succeed.
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