portfolio

LÍGIA MARIA PIRES FERNANDES

master degree in painting | 2019 | faculty of fine arts of lisbon
BIO

Licenciada em Desenho pela Faculdade de Belas Artes de Lisboa, e actualmente frequentando o Mestrado em Pintura na mesma Faculdade, Lígia
Fernandes (1985, Setúbal) utiliza o desenho e a pintura como ferramentas para explorar culturas, etnografias e identidades. O seu universo é um
espaço onde cabem a partilha, o diálogo e a reflexão, e é muitas vezes o resultado de uma pesquisa específica ao lugar que parte do arquivo ou da
colaboração. As obras procuram relacionar-se com a ideia de casa: a ligação com o lugar e a sua memória colectiva, trazendo para o presente a
intimidade entre o público e a figura. Há, em todo o seu trabalho, a noção constante de ser Portuguesa.

Graduated in Drawing from the Fine Arts Faculty of the University of Lisbon, and currently attending the Master degree in Painting at the same
faculty, Lígia Fernandes (1985, Setúbal) uses drawing and painting as tools to explore cultural universes, ethnographies, and identities. Her universe
is a space where fit sharing, dialogue and reflection, and is often a result of a site-specific research which derives from the archive or collaboration.
The works aim to address the idea of home: the connection to a place and its collective memory, creating a present intimacy between the public
and the figure. The constant notion of being Portuguese is present in all her work.
 In 1973/74 Mark Soorosar made the documentary “Kihnu Naine” (Kihnu’s women) in Kihnu, an island of 16.4Km2 located in
KIHNU NAINE the south of Estonia. In 2019 I visited it and this was the starting point for the draiong project developed. The work is a
2019 reflection on memory and the repetition of images in their different formats. From the frames of the documentary by Mark
(aprox. dimensions of the panel 180x130cm, bigger Soorosar, a series of drawings was created on different paper formats, respecting the proportions of the original frames. It is the
repetition of the act of drawing and the accumulation of images, that creates a space of connection with the drawing object.
drawing: 110x110 cm)
There is also a transition from a linear narrative to a flat narrative - where all images are immediately visible - and a transition
Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic medium on paper. from a video format to the drawing format, which gives a new dimension to the work presented. You can also find a third
passage, which happens through time, the recorded moment comes back to live in the present through the action of drawing.
From the ethnographic point of view, this path starts to act on the work collected by the ethnographers, as if it were a second
layer or a deconstruction of the ethnographic project itself through the creation of a new intimacy with the image.
THE AFRICAN WOMEN OF THE FACULTY OF FINE ARTS
2019
(150x250 cm )
Indian ink, charcoal, watercolor and acrylic
1st price - drawing developed for SGPM-FBAUL exhibition.
There are very few, if any, African students at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon. However, most
cleaning ladies are so. And they are a constant presence in its corridors, interacting with students,
artistic projects, teachers and the space itself. Perhaps, even, knowing these in their broadest
form. Such presence leads us to questioning two things: one refers to the nature of their own
universe: where they came from, what journey they took, what language, tradition, what stories
they bring with along with them. The second is a social question: to what extent are there free
access to artistic education? Due to the lack of guarantees in the future, due to the financial and
cultural limitations of certain families, there may be an elitism in access to artistic areas, sending
minorities and the most disadvantaged groups to other types of professions. In this way, the
universe of the cleaning ladies of the faculty will be the starting point for the development of a
pictorial composition, thus calling them into painting.
MEMORIES FROM SALGUEIRO MAIA
2018
(200X200) por drawing

Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic on canvas, wood and electric lights.
Street installation for an arts festival happening during the night. During the day the drawings can be seen with day light. During the night they are lighted from the inside.
There is a performative component, as texts could only be readable during the night and were being written inside the canvas during the course of the festival. Visitors were
also asked to participate by writing or drawing on an empty canvas.
The installation was prepared for the “Festival of the Water and Time” at the village of Castelo de Vide, Portugal.
WE MADE THESE DRAWINGS
TOGETHER
2019
300X100 cm (per pannel)

Indian ink, acrylic and charcoal on paper

Drawings developed in the context of

mentoring for Festival PaRTES. They
were collectively executed by the 11
participants under supervision and
orientation, and each corresponds to a
drawing exercise: blind drawing, free
drawing, continuous line drawing,
drawing on the back with eyes closed.
PEOPLE FROM HERE AND THERE
2019
(44 drawings 50x35cm + audio 240’)

Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic on paper.

PEOPLE FROM HERE AND THERE
2019
(44 drawings 50x35cm + audio 240’)
Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic on paper
Project developed for the artist residency NEXTSOP promoted by Largo Residências (Intendente,
Lisbon, Portugal). The project consisted in a drawing and sound installation at Lisbon’s metro
station of Anjos. The drawings are life drawn from the immigrants living in the neighborhood and
exhibited with the recordings of the conversations which took place during the making of the
drawing. Photos of the installation (first row) and also of an activity developed during the project
(second and third rows), where participants were asked to draw each other, after being randomly
assigned.
STORIES FROM MY STREET
2018
(150x110cm per drawing)

Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic on

paper.
Street installation of the same
drawings printed on wood boards
of 90x110 cm and of text printed
on boards of 30x30 cm containing
stories collected at the same
village.

The installation was prepared for

the “Festival of the Water and
Time” at the village of Castelo de
Vide, Portugal.
QUINTA DAS RELVAS
2017
(200 x 1600 cm)

Water-based ink on wall

Mural depicting some of the people that worked or lived at the estate “Quinta das Relvas”. The wall surrounds the estate. It is
the result of the artist residency RÉSVÉS BRANCA, 2017 promoted by the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon
FOURTY PORTRAITS FROM CASTELO DE VIDE
2017
(29,7x42 cm per drawing)
Indian ink, acrylic and charcoal on paper
Life drawings of 40 of the inhabitants of the village of Castelo de Vide, in Alentejo.
The works were exhibited with the recordings of the conversations that occurred while the drawings were being made. They
were executed and exhibited for the Festival of the Water and Time, on August 2017
GENTE DA TERRA
2016
(29,7x42 cm per drawing)

Clay, acrylic and charcoal on paper

Life drawings of some of the inhabitants of the village of

Alte, in Algarve
The works were exhibited with the recordings of the
conversations that occurred while the drawings were being
made.
They are the result of the artist residency RÉSVÉS ALTE,
2016, promoted by the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon
DRAWINGS FROM ARCHIVES

Since 2017 I have been developing many drawing works

from several archives: family albums, municipal photo
archives and vídeo archives.
There is a constant interest especially in understanding the
decades betwwen 30’s-70’s, under which the country
underwent the dictatorship period. In this sense I have
been drawing these archives looking into the ideas of
family, tradition, culture, habits and society.

POVO QUE CANTA I

2020
(50x70cm)
Indian ink, charcoal, pastel on paper.
ENCOUNTER
2020
(185X150
Indian ink, charcoal, pastel and acrylic on paper.
POVO QUE CANTA II
2020
(175X115cm)
Indian ink, charcoal, pastel and acrylic on paper.
POVO QUE CANTA III
2020
(115X115cm)
Indian ink, charcoal, pastel and acrylic on paper.
MOCIDADE
2019
(100X50cm)
Indian ink, charcoal, pastel and
acrylic on paper.
SEASIDE
2018
(100X200 cm)

Indian ink, charcoal and

acrylic on paper
LITTLE BOAT
2018
(145 x 150 cm)

Indian I, charcoal and acrylic

on paper.
 SUMMERTIME DATING
2018 2018
(120X150 cm) (120x150)

Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic Indian ink, charcoal and acrylic
on paper on paper
THE SUMMER HOUSE
2017
(80x170 cm)

Charcoal, gouache and indian ink on paper

This drawing was selected for the exhibition “Prémio Paula Rego” 2017
FIVE LIVING ONES ARE QUIET, TWELVE DECEISED ARE SINGING
2017/2018 (14,8 x 21 cm per drawing)
Mixed media on booklet
Graphic exploration based of recordings of conversations and private photos provided by people met during artist residencies in Alte and Castelo de Vide.
Explorative work used as a process for future drawings and also as a reflection on the material collected.
UNDERSTANDING MONTENEGRO
2017
(200 x 100 cm)

Acrylic on photocopy
Intervention on photos collected in the library of
Cetinje, Montenegro, in an attempt to understand the
culture and History of the country.
Project done during my stay at the Faculty of Fine Arts
of Cetinje
THE FOUR WIDOWS
2016
(50x70 cm per drawing9

Indian ink, pastel and charcoal on paper

Portraits of four widows from my neighborhood in Lisbon, Mouraria
The first drawing from the left was selected for the exhibition “Prémio Paula Rego 2016”
The third drawing from the left was selected by the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon to be printed in the merchandizing (small booklets) of the faculty of 2017
IMAGINED GARDENS
2016
(29,7 x 42 cm per drawing)

Gouache and indian ink on paper

CONTACTS
ligiampfernandes@hotmail.com | (00351) 917 706 247