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Painter | The Netherlands / Portugal
Anna Nunes is a Dutch-Portuguese autodidact artist. Her work offers a self-reflection on different ways of living, largely nourished by her experiences as an ecologist specialised in sacred forests of local communities in Guinea-Bissau. When she first arrived among the Fulani, she couldn’t speak their language so she communicated with them through art. Drawing perfectly conveyed experiences and emotions.
Anna Nunes (1993) was born in Portugal and is currently based in the Netherlands. She is a contemporary artist and researcher. She graduated as an Ecologist and was awarded in 2018 by the Faculty of Resource Ecology at Wageningen University. An award for the execution of her research on sacred forests and her contact and communication with the local population of the Boé region, Guinea-Bissau.
Anna Nunes interdisciplinary work concentrates on natural resources that are maintained and protected by spiritual beliefs and traditional practices by the people inhabiting the surrounding area. For research and the development of new work, in collaboration with CACAU (São Tome, island in the Gulf of Guinea), Anna received recently a project grant by the Fund of Cultuurparticipatie.
Currently, Nunes paints portraits and large-scale everyday scenes of the West African communities that hosted her. Her paintings explore the connections she made with the people there, their sense of community, their collective wisdom and values, and reciprocal respect for one another. She composes her paintings across multiple planes using wide shapes and bold colours that are reminiscent of Gauguin. In her group portraits, the whole canvas is filled with a tight lively crowd. In the density of the composition, Nunes uses a focal point such as clapping hands or an expressive gaze to guide the viewer through the scene. In her individual portraits, she transcends the appearance of a person to capture their soul. Nunes’ art questions what other communities could offer us in our search for a more connected way of living with each other and with the world around us.
(text: Natania Dan, curator at the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam)
Taking you there…, Warnars & Warnars Art Dealers, Haarlem, The Netherlands.
The Line1 Parade, De Broodfabriek, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
People of the Boé, Gallery Koenders, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Paintings by Anna Nunes, Impulse Wageningen UR, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
ART The Hague, Uit Het Gareel, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Faraway places, Uit Het Gareel, The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Powerful Women, Gallery De Nispenhoeve, Prinsenbeek, The Netherlands
Wageningse Makers, City Hall, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Jubilee edition, Museum Night, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Project Grant, Grant for research and the development of new work in collaboration with CACAU (São Tôme, West-Africa), Fonds voor Cultuur Participatie, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
The Willem Barentsz Award, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
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