Ana Cláudia Almeida
Ana Cláudia Almeida (b. 1993, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; lives in Brooklyn, New York) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, and video. She is known for her deft manipulation of materials such as oil stick, fabric, plastic, paint, and pigment, forging works that explore the intertwined realms of memory, and embodiment through an intensely physical engagement with process.
The material universe of Almeida’s practice is defined by the tactile and the mutable: the fluttering quality of her works on fabric, the accumulative and shifting character of her sculptures, and the kaleidoscopic fragmentation of her large-scale paintings transpose intangible memory into matter. This is felt both on the surface—where traces of previous gestures remain visible—and in the conceptual underpinnings of the work, where abstraction becomes a vessel for layered histories and practices. Her approach resists the imposition of rigid control, allowing her materials to move, fold, and breathe, embodying the same liberative spirit that informs her themes.
Guided by what she describes as a “need to break patterns that no longer serve us—in the mind, in the body, in space, in everyday life,” Almeida’s practice confronts the ways she is shaped—or distorted—by systems such as religion, gender, and sexuality. Each brushstroke is both a gesture of preservation and of resistance, orienting her closer to freedom.
Her work has been exhibited widely in Brazil and internationally. Notable presentations include a two-person exhibition with Tadáskía at the Nevada Museum of Art as part of the Joyner/Giuffrida Visiting Artists Programme; Guandu Paraguaçu Piraquara at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Rio de Janeiro; Buracos, Crateras e Abraços at Quadra, Rio de Janeiro; and Wasapindorama at Fundação de Arte de Niterói, Niterói.
Group exhibitions include Ensaios sobre a Paisagem at Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho; Olhe bem as montanhas at Quadra, São Paulo; Essas Pessoas na Sala de Jantar at Casa Museu Eva Klabin, Rio de Janeiro; Crônicas Cariocas at Museu de Arte do Rio; and Casa Carioca at Museu de Arte do Rio.
She holds a BFA from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and an MFA from the Yale School of Art. Her work is held in the public collections of Museu de Arte do Rio, Instituto Inhotim, Sesc Rio de Janeiro, and the Nevada Museum of Art.