Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos will present her work in two exhibitions in France in 2026, held in Marseille and Villefranche-sur-Mer, exploring themes of maternity, dreams, and surrealism.
Vasconcelos, renowned for transforming everyday objects into monumental installations, merges craft, popular culture, and social critique in works addressing identity, gender, collective memory, and cultural heritage, all with a distinct baroque aesthetic.
The first exhibition, a group show titled “Bonnes Mères”, opened in mid-March at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MuCEM) in Marseille and will run until the end of August 2026. It focuses on maternity from various cultural and historical perspectives, featuring Vasconcelos in dialogue with other international artists. Her approach connects the intimate to the spectacular, the domestic to the architectural.
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Concurrently, Vasconcelos is preparing “L’Absurde et le Rêve”, a summer exhibition in Villefranche-sur-Mer, running from June to October 2026, in collaboration with Belgian sculptor Arne Quinze.
The immersive project explores surrealism, nature, and poetic imagination, highlighting Vasconcelos’ conceptual and emotional approach. Her works, often monumental, draw inspiration from daily life and culture, exemplified in the “Valkyries” series, which blends textiles and industrial elements to honor women and revitalize forgotten spaces and memories.
