Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
Joana Vasconcelos says women’s art need not be defined by pain
Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese artist known for turning familiar materials and domestic crafts into huge sculptures.
Her works include a chandelier made from tampons, towering stilettos built from steel pots, and installations made with sewn leaves.
She is presenting an exhibition called Venus with Italian fashion designer Valentino at Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology.
The exhibition is part of the museum’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
Vasconcelos says she is tired of women’s art being defined by pain and suffering.
She points to a recent Tracey Emin show as an example of work that struck her as focused on pain.
She argues that women artists should also be able to make work that is grand, soft, refined and beautiful.
Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos says women’s art should not be defined by pain and suffering.
She says she has had enough of art that focuses on women’s suffering.
Vasconcelos is known for monumental works that combine domestic details and materials with large-scale sculpture.
She is installing Venus, an exhibition at Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology that brings her work into dialogue with fashion designer Valentino.
- Who
- Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos.
- What
- She says women’s art need not be defined by pain and suffering.
- When
- The article was published on 11 October 2026.
- Where
- The comments were made in an interview at Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology.
- Why
- Vasconcelos says she is tired of the focus on women’s pain in art.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
I’ve had enough. For women to be able to express …
It’s good, but enough of this suffering!
why not bring domestic detail into monumental sculpture?
Vasconcelos represented Portugal at the Venice Biennale, showing The Bride, a chandelier made of 14,000 tampons.
Paris installed Vasconcelos’s Coeur de Paris, a giant revolving heart at Porte de Clignancourt.
The Guardian published its interview with Vasconcelos as she installed Venus at MAAT.
- Artist
- Joana Vasconcelos
- Exhibition
- Venus, with Italian fashion designer Valentino
- Museum
- Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon
- The Bride
- Six-metre-tall chandelier made of 14,000 tampons
- Coeur de Paris
- Nine-metre-tall pole with a giant revolving heart
Sources
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