Catarina Fontoura is an artist, educator and writer. She has submitted her PhD thesis in History of Photography from Birkbeck, University of London, specialising in visual histories of science. Catarina was the recipient of a Collaborative Doctoral Award between Birkbeck and the Royal Society in London, where she studied expeditionary photographic archives. The results of her doctoral investigation have been presented in the third Photographies Journal International Conference in 2022.
Catarina’s artistic practice explores the relation between art, science, spirituality, story-telling and ecology. She is particularly interested in reconfiguring the land into entangled systems and stories, embedding human beings into non-human narratives and entities. Her work has been exhibited in Germany, USA, Mexico, UK and Portugal.
Catarina was a nominee for the Magnum Graduate award in 2015. Her work has been published in several independent art publications and online platforms, such as AP, Der Grief, Paper Journal, The Lost Prairie and Phases Magazine. Recent exhibitions include the collective show ‘The colour
of there seen from here, the colour of where you are not’, in Vital Spaces, New Mexico US and 'In Progress' at the Centre for Contemporary Art and Gallery in Augsburg, Germany.
Her latest research focuses on the relationship between autobiography, creative practice and ecology and her book chapter ‘Urgent Autobiographies: Lived Experiences of Ecology in Photographic Practice’ will be published in early 2023 by IGI Publishers, USA.
Originally from Portugal, she lives and works in West Cornwall, UK.
catarinafontoura (at ) gmail.com
@catarinafontoura ︎
S E L E C T E D E X H I B I T I O N S
2022 ‘The colour of there seen from here, the colour of where you are not’, Vital Spaces, Santa Fe, New Mexico February 2022.
2017 Galleri Box, Summer Art Fair, Göteborg, Sweden.
2015 Carlisle Photo Festival, Photobook Dummy Exhibition, UK
2015 Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, Vermont, ‘Things with Wings’, US
2014 Encontros da Imagem, Photobook dummy exhibition, Braga, Portugal
2014 The Independent AIR exhibition, Silkeborg, Denmark
2014 Wish You Were Here, Exhibition Featuring work of emergent photographers Ffotogallery, Penarth, Cardiff UK
2014, Exhibition ‘A Process’, Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus in Augsburg, Germany
2013 Edges, MA Graduate Show, Ffotogallery, Penarth, Cardiff UK
2012 Invocations, Solo Show, Ffloc Gallery curated by Helen Sear, Newport, UK
2012 Unseen Bristol, Parlour Showroom, Bristol UK
2012 100 Years of Photography at Newport, University of Wales, Newport, UK
2011 Invocations Work in Progress, Fauna & Flora Gallery, Newport, UK 2010
2011 BA Graduate Show, “I am late”, Museu da Vila Velha, Vila Real, Portugal 2009
2010 Revelaciones, Biblioteca del Cabañal, Valencia, España
2008 FotoGuadalajara, UDG Gallery, Guadajara, Mexico
R E C E N T P U B L I C A T I O N S
‘Urgent Autobiographies: Lived Experiences of Ecology in Photographic Practice’ in 'Handbook of Research on the Relationship Between Autobiographical Memory and Photography', Ed. Mark Ingham, Nela Millic, Vasileios Kantas, Sara Andersdotter and Paul Lowe. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global. January 2023.
‘Wild Home: Boundaries and borders between domestic and wild in expeditionary photography in the twentieth century’ in Photographies Journal International Conference, San Antonio Texas, US. September 2022. Submitted for Publication.
‘Ecological Reparations: Medicinal Trees, Colonization and the Archive’ in ‘Decolonizing Decarbonization Zine’, Council for Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD), December 2022. Submitted for Publication.
‘Filha de Carvão e Ouro Negro’ (Daughter of Coal and Black Gold: Stories of Extractivism and Love) in Vento e Agua Journal, Portugal, Issue 35 May 2022
P R E S S
European Prospects: Visual Explorations in an Undiscovered Continent, May 2014
Source, Graduate selection, October 2014
Der Grief Book ‘A Progress’ July 2014
Antennae, The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
The Latent Image, USA March 2014
Phases Magazine, June 2014
Paper Journal Magazine, June 2014
Ap Magazine, Selected Photograph from ‘Invocations’, May 2013
Invocations featured in Gimnasio Magazine, Mexico September 2012