About

BIO

Inês Santiago (b.1979, Portugal) is a visual artist whose practice investigates the relationship between human action and natural ecosystems. Working with discarded ceramic shards and found materials gathered from the beach, she develops assemblages, drawings and digital compositions that imagine the adaptation of marine life to the damaged environment and climate change, constructing a dreamlike universe of hybrid creatures.

Influenced by evolutionary theory, she explores adaptation, transformation and survival through a modular process grounded in deconstruction and recomposition, where error and accident operate as structuring forces within her visual language.

Inês holds a degree in New Communication Technologies and in Design, and built a 20-year international career in UX Design and Leadership, which has greatly contributed to her cooperative and interactive vision of art.

She currently lives and works in Portugal, by the sea, in deep relation with the theme of her artistic practice.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work explores the entanglement between human action and natural ecosystems through discarded materials and elements gathered from the beach: ceramic shards, sand, shells, stones, plants, wood and plastic debris. Reorganised without hierarchy into assemblage, drawing, painting and digital compositions, these fragments question nature’s capacity to adapt to environmental impact and to a consumerist, egocentric society.
My process is open and mutable. While the work remains in the studio, anything can happen. I dismantle, shift and recompose. Accidents do not disturb me: a torn surface, something broken, an unexpected stain. I see error as a beginning and imperfection as possibility. I am interested in that state of instability where beauty and chaos coexist. I work across multiple pieces simultaneously — assemblage informs drawing, drawing reshapes assemblage — opening paths towards other media in an ongoing exchange.

CV

Inês Vila Mona Santiago
Born in Coimbra, Portugal, 1979.
Lives and works in Costa Nova, Aveiro, Portugal.

Education
2008–2009 — Post-graduation in Motion Graphics, IDEP, Barcelona, Spain.
2004 — Design Thinking Summer School, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland.
2002–2006 — BA in Design, University of Aveiro, Portugal.
1997–2001 — Graduation in New Communication Technologies, University of Aveiro, Portugal.

Solo Exhibitions
2025/10 — “The Artworks of Nature, and The Nature of Artworks”, Pop-up gallery at the artist’s place, Costa Nova, Aveiro, Portugal.

Group Exhibitions
2026/02 — “D’Onde és, para onde vais”, Arte na Invicta, Espaço AL 859 Gallery, Porto, Portugal.
2025/12 — “Pequenos Formatos”, Monumental Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal.
2025/12 — “30×30”, 23A Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal.
2025/12 — “Pequenos Formatos”, Porta do Café, Aveiro, Portugal.
2025/09 — “Bienal Mário Botas”, Cultural Centre of Nazaré, Nazaré, Portugal.
2025/09 — “Life is a Cabaret”, Museum of Aveiro/Santa Joana – Pedra Gallery, Aveiro, Portugal.
2025/07 — “Barroco 3.0”, Foundation Eng. António Pascoal, Aveiro, Portugal.
2025/06 — “New Contemporaries” (online), Domio Gallery, London, UK.
2025/04 — “Abril Ilustrado”, Campo das Artes, Porto, Portugal.
2025/02 — “Hope” (online), Suboart Magazine.

Upcoming Exhibitions
2026/06 — “GREENy bastARTs KINDFIRE”, Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London, UK.
2026/10 — 23 Milhas, Cultural Centre of Ílhavo, Ílhavo, Portugal.

Collections
Inês Santiago features in various national private collections.

Awards (Shortlisted)
2025 — Bienal Mário Botas Award.
2025 — VAA Art500 International Award.

Publications & Press
2025/12 — “Artist Breakthrough Moments: OpenSpaces / In Conversation With Inês Santiago”, Visual Artists Association.
2025/06 — Contemporaries New Works 2025/01, “Exosqueleto Embalado Sem Destino”, Domio Gallery printed Exhibition Catalogue.
2025/04 — “04. Community Stories_ Inês Santiago”, interview for the project 40 days of drawing.
2025/02 — Suboart Magazine Nº36 (“Monocle”, selected for the exhibition “Hope”).

Professional Contributions
2025 — Artist member, Em Movimento (Multidisciplinary Artists Collective, Aveiro).
2025 — Artist member, Visual Artists Association (VAA).
2025 — Artist member, AveiroArte (Experimental Circle of Visual Artists of Aveiro).
2024–2026 — Art workshops for children, Costa Nova / Aveiro.
2013 — Art & Design Tutor, OBS Genne School, Hasselt, The Netherlands.