Joana Vasconcelos: Mask out of mirrors

The Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is renowned for her large-scale sculptural pieces which have featured in galleries across the world. She has used materials such as fabric, plastic and even tampons to construct her works.

In June 2018 her exhibition called I’m Your Mirror opened at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. For this Joana made a series of new sculptures, including an enormous Venetian-style mask, made of overlapping mirrors. After being shown in Bilbao, the mask is now on display at the Museu de Serralves in Porto, Portugal with another version of it also on show in Venice at the Kempinski on San Clemente Island.

The construction of the huge mask was a process full of challenges as the enormous structure took shape in Joana’s Lisbon studio. In this programme Anna McNamee follows Joana through the process of working with the mirrors and explores how the piece is designed, shaped and packed up ready to begin its journey to Bilbao.

Producers: Emma Kingsley and Anna McNamee

(Photo: Joana Vasconcelos. Credit: Kenton Thatcher/© Unidade Infinita Projectos)