Photo by Matilde Viegas, for her project Alento
Inês Neto dos Santos
I am a multi-disciplinary artist, born in Lisbon and based in London/Brussels. I completed an MA in Visual Communication at Royal College of Art (2016) and a BA in Graphic Design and Illustration at London College of Communication (2013).
My practice moves between performance, installation and social sculpture, investigating the socio-political implications of what we eat and how we come to eat it. In my work, I create contexts and frameworks through which to explore collaboration, generosity, care and togetherness. In recent years I have delved into the practical and metaphorical dimensions of fermentation, as a gateway into our enmeshed, multispecies existence. More recently, my research has taken me into the study of beans and their soil regeneration qualities, investigating their relationship to supported sustenance and care.
Exhibiting my work often happens in participatory formats of knowledge exchange and workshops. I have been a guest lecturer at Kingston University and Westminster University.
Since March 2021, I have co-lead the online course Food Cosmogonies with artist Nora Silva, first at the Institute for Postnatural Studies in Madrid, and currently in collaboration with the Barns Art Centre, NY. The course seeks to propose food as central to the world-making process.
In 2016, I founded Mesa, a project that runs on collaborations with other artists, and results in performances, supperclubs and events which explore food as a global language, to democratise access to art and the creative practice. Through the project, I expands on my interest in how using symbols, metaphors and re-tellings can help us overcome, discuss and/or understand contemporary issues or emotional states.
PUBLISHED:
- Tender Touches (2020), co-curated/co-authored with Huma Kabakci, published by Open Space.
- Bonfim (2018), artist book, limited edition of 30 copies, riso printed, hand-bound.
Published by Illustration School. Porto, Portugal.
- Liquid Inbetweeness: Matrixiality and Water as a Metaphor (dissertation), 2017, MA Visual Communication,
Royal College of Art, London. Published by AVANCA Film Festival.
RESIDENCIES:
- EVA International, Limerick, Ireland 2020-2021
- Radical Residency V at Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop, August-September, London 2020
- Villa Lena Residency, Tuscany 2019 and 2021
- Z.U.T. Residency, Lisbon 2018, curated by Alice Bonnot
- Illustration School Residency, Porto 2018
- Barbecho residency, Madrid, 2017
- Z.U.T. Residency, Athens 2017, curated by Alice Bonnot
ines.neto-dos-santos@network.rca.ac.uk