ABSTRACT
Sculptor, draughtswoman, printmaker, painter and teacher. She was born in Brazil and studied sculpture, music and education at the Universities at Goias and Rio de Janeiro. She taught at the University of Goias (1966-73), then came to Britain on a British Council Scholarship, to study under Reg Butler at the Slade School of Art (1973-5). She was Head of Fine Art at Norwich School of Fine Art (1985-9). Group shows include 'Women's Images of Man' at the ICA (1980) and the 'Europe Prize of Ostend for Painting' (1982, Silver Medal). She has had solo shows at Blackheath Gallery (1979); Artsite Gallery, Bath; Oriel, Cardiff; Ashley Gallery, Epsom; the International Contemporary Art Fair at Olympia, London; Wrexham Arts Centre as well as abroad. Residencies include Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Camden Arts Centre and Trinity School at Leamington Spa, which was the subject of a Central Television documentary (1984). She also held the fourth residency at the National Gallery (1999-2000), and during that time she executed and finally exhibited a large group there on the theme of the martyrdom of St Sebastian. She is represented in many collections world-wide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Arts Council, British Museum and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Working from drawings and prints, she creates disturbing, large-scale groups of figures in carved and painted wood, with overtones of political torture, sexuality and death. Their childlike proportions accentuate their suffering. In her first major piece, Some Exercise of Power (exh. 1980, ICA, polychromed wood, base York stone), a naked man is watched by two torturers. The Banquet (exh. 1989, polychromed wood) shows four sinister diners seated around a table on which a man is served up as the meal.
