EMA PINA

b. 1984, Porto, Portugal.
Currently lives and works in Porto.
ema.pina@gmail.com
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My paintings visually combine elements of artefacts, nature, and the human body to materialise aspects of feelings, thoughts, and longings. Surfaces become psychological and sensory charged.
The experience of interiority, the formation of subjectivity, and the interplay between cognition and sentience are central to my work. I am interested in how the (i/)material world around us produces subjectivities at a time of digital, physical and biological convergence. My works include various elements such as sunflowers, everyday objects, and inflatable bodies, blurring the boundaries between organic and artificial, reality and fiction, agency and idleness, and desire and control.


EDUCATION
2014 BA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2011 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2006 Bachelor in Economics, Faculdade de Economia Universidade do Porto, Porto, PT

SOLO & DUO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Aerosols, Caldeiraria, Porto, PT +info
2023 Common Denominators, Hotel Flor de Sal, Viana do Castelo, PT
2019 Void Feelers, Exhibition with Annette Fernando, Thames-Side Viewing Room, London, UK +info

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 New Wave, Spitalfields Studios, London, UK
2023 Do You Buy This?, Ugly Duck, London, UK  +info
2018 Here then, was I / Here now, am I, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London, UK  +info
2016 Maverick Expo 3, Noho Studios, London, UK
2016 Through a Screen Darkly, Gallery Sensei, London, UK  +info
2016 The Future is Female, La Porte Peinte, Noyers, FR  +info
2016 Sleep Easy, The Amersham Arms, London, UK
2015 The Sleeping Giant, The Amersham Arms, London, UK  +info
2015 Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, Mall Galleries, London, UK  +info
2014 Clyde & Co Art Award Collection 2014-15, Clyde & Co, London, UK
2014 Print/3, Arcane Gallery, London, UK
2014 Show One, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2013 First Come First Served, Lion & Lamb Gallery, London, UK
2013 TombRaiders, Petrie Museum, London, UK

AWARDS
2020 Editorial Mentorship, Hedera Felix
2019 The Eaton Fund, Eaton Fund
2015 The Brian Botting Prize, The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers
2014 Kate Barton Award, Central Saint Martins
2014 The Clyde & Co Art Award Collection 2014-15, Clyde & Co

COLLECTIONS
University of the Arts London
The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers
La Porte Peinte Centre pour les Arts

PUBLICATIONS
2024 Article, Emerging Artists: Ema Pina, Made In Bed magazine, online
2023 Into The Wild - A guide for bodies and the cities they create, Ping! gineceu + estigma, Câmara Municipal do Porto
2021 Magazine cover (artwork), Mycelia IV, Hedera Felix
2020 Artist talk with Katie Pratt, NPA Lab 2020: Katie Pratt x Ema Pina, newplatform.art, online
2016 Interview, Creative Conversations com James Mungai, MungzMedia, online
2015 Article, Lynn Painter-Stainers 2015 Prizewinners by Katherine Tyrrell, Making a Mark, online 
2015 Exhibition catalogue, Clyde & Co Art Award Collection 2014-2015, Clyde & Co
2014 Article, In Pictures: 2014’s Scholarship Winners, University Arts London, online
2014 Exhibition catalogue, Show One, Central St Martins