João Saramago is a multidisciplinary artist and producer, originally from Lisbon, Portugal.
His artistic practice investigates the relationship between nature, human identity and spirituality through a drawing-led approach.
He explores drawing as a time-based process, usually referring to mindfulness, endurance, resilience and healing. By perceiving the paper as a skin surface, he marks and paints with biro to create intricate line work in organic and fluid compositions.
João studied Graphic Design and Art and Heritage at the University of Fine Arts in Lisbon until he moved to the UK in 2019.
- FEATURED PRINTS -
biro on paper, acid-free paper 220 gsm
31 cm x 58,9 cm
12.20 in x 22.83 in
signed and dated on the back
ballpoint pen on paper 320 gsm acid free paper
59,4 cm x 84,1 cm
23.4 in x 33.1 in
signed and dated on the back
Print Edition of 25
ballpoint pen on paper 220 gsm, acid free paper
52 cm x 72 cm
23.4 in x 33.1 in
signed and dated on the back
Print Edition of 25
ballpoint pen on paper, acid free paper 220 gsm
31 cm x 58,9 cm
12.20 in x 22.83 in
signed and dated on the back
Print Edition of 50
ballpoint pen on paper, 320 gsm acid free paper
29,7 cm x 42 cm
11.7 in x 16.5 in
signed and dated on the back
Your prints will be shipped exactly as ordered, with quality checked prior to dispatch.
In 2021, he was awarded the Artists Respond to The Now commission by the Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru to create work that reflected on the human impact on the environment, resulting in a series of site-specific performances across the Welsh landscape.
He was nominated for The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize in 2020 and exhibited his work at Queer Artists Now in London in 2022 and the following year at MAAT - Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology for the International Video Art Festival in Lisbon. He took part in the 50th Anniversary of Aberystwyth Arts Centre and the group exhibition Trails at The Turner House in Penarth. Since 2023, João has been a member of Sgôr, a Welsh artistic collective spawned by TactileBosch, where he explores performance to embody the ideas he's defined in his drawing practice.
He has performed live at the renowned CULTVR for the FullDome Festival 2024 in Cardiff and at G39 alongside Sgôr.
He works regularly with Primary Schools to encourage pupils to explore art for self-expression and improve their learning capabilities by developing sessions with illustration, painting and filmmaking.
In his work, he combines drawing with digital media, resulting in intricate hand-drawn compositions that evolve into site-specific narratives and immersive live performances.
immersive
It is a series of site-specific interventions across the Welsh landscape that confront the quiet violence of environmental exploitation. Focusing on coastal erosion and the enduring legacy of fossil fuel consumption, the work draws a visceral analogy between the wounded body and the damaged land, exploring betrayal as a rupture in the unspoken contracts of care we hold with ourselves, with others, and with the landscapes we call home. Through gestures of stitching, binding, and marking, Betrayal reflects on personal, societal, and ecological fractures—exploring what it means to care for a place after trust has been broken. Each intervention becomes an attempt to suture what has been torn open, and the complicated, messy urge to try and make things right again.
sgôr - score collective
COMMONPLACE
g39 Cardiff
Everyday things, familiar things. Things in common and those places we share. those links and connections we can find when we let them happen. More than ever, we are asking ourselves questions about art spaces in Wales - not just about their function or what they are, but also what they could be.
Tim Martin-Jones, Vitaliia Fedorova, Beth Greenhalgh, João Saramago, Tess Wood ,Robert Oros
Music: Teddy Hunter and Ya Yonder
Photo: Mahnaz Baoosh
THE THURSDAY SHOW
Inspired by mindfulness colouring books, this performance consists of projecting a traditional Portuguese doily onto large white balloons, creating a pattern to be coloured in. But instead of a peaceful colouring exercise, the performance piece embodies frustration: hidden fans keep the balloons in constant motion, turning a soothing task into one of irritability, tension, and instability.
collaborative work
WHITSUNDTIDE
BIO GRAPHIA
During the lockdown period, people found ways of collaborating, creative ways of being connected. I was fortunate to revive a relationship with my sister, whom I have met few times in my lifetime. Despite her condition, she kept hiding how sick she was and kept creating. This piece is dedicated to her.
Bio Graphia is a collaboration between brother and sister João Saramago and Paula Pinto, Portuguese creatives in Wales and Portugal. The presenting work is an exploration of longing, Saudade and Hiraeth, to seek connection, belonging and meaning. Produced during the lockdown period, the short film of 3 minutes showcases contemporary dance choreographed by renowned former Gulbenkian ballet dancer Paula Pinto. Out of the need to reconnect, find home and explore identity, this short film was produced by João Saramago to set a bridge between Portugal and Wales, celebrating our shared heritages and encouraging connection.
Symphonasia explores how movement, AI, art, and music can unite in a shared immersive space.
Inspired by interactive drawing and musical composition, it harnesses cutting-edge AI-assisted computer vision to enable participants to create and share unique soundscapes, blending visual and musical phrases in real-time.
Funded by Media Cymru’s Seed Fund, this collaboration brings together composer Dr. Owain Llwyd and Campfire Digital, which specialises in AI.
