Vera Mota
Vera Mota (Porto, 1982) has a degree in Fine-Arts – Sculpture (2000-2005) and a Master’s in Contemporary Artistic Practices (2006-2008) from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto. The artist lives works in Porto.
Her artistic practice is revealed mainly through sculpture, drawing and performance, taking advantage of the breadth and permeability that these disciplines offer. With regular public presentations since 2005, her work calls for a strong material component, in a process in which her body asserts itself as an almost always indispensable agent. Performance thus emerges as a means of production, composition or even staging, promoting and equating the participation of the body as a generative methodology and axis for conceptual formulations.
Using a wide range of materials – marble, iron, bronze, textiles, leather, glass, paper – in large scale, watertight sculptures, as well as temporary installations, she brings out the properties of these materials, whose specificities end up being decisive in defining the expression that the works take on. In sculpture as in drawing, this acting body imprints its gestures and transits.
More recently, her work has been centered around the politics of the body and features a sculptural animism that calls for other perspectives of the body, other bodies and materialities, seeking to stage processes of transfiguration, declassification of functions and transference between organic and inorganic, geological and biological bodies, examples of which are her most recent solo exhibitions, namely “SEM CORPO/ DISEMBODIED” (Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto).
As part of exhibitions and performance programmes, her work has also been presented at Galeria Municipal do Porto (Oporto, Portugal); MACE – Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas (Elvas, Portugal); Matadero (Madrid, Spain); Ireland’s Biennial (Limerick, Ireland) and SESC (São Paulo, Brazil); among others.
Her work is part of important collections such as Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection – CACE; Serralves Foundation Collection; PLMJ Collection; António Cachola Collection– MACE; Ilídio Pinho Collection and Centro de Arte Oliva – Norlinda and José Lima Collection.

VERA MOTA
Haze
2023
Basalt, basalt fiber, aluminum, steel
Variable dimensions (Plinth: 25 x 250 x 250 cm)

VERA MOTA
Haze (detail)
2023
Basalt, basalt fiber, aluminum, steel
Variable dimensions (Plinth: 25 x 250 x 250 cm)

VERA MOTA
Disembodied
2022
Exhibition view at Serralves Contemporary Art Museum, Porto

VERA MOTA
Phantom Sensation
2023
Exhibition view at Sismógrafo, Porto

VERA MOTA
Phantom Sensation
2023
Exhibition view at Sismógrafo, Porto

VERA MOTA
Untitled
2022
Oil ink on paper
265 x 140 cm (each)

VERA MOTA
Untitled
2022
Oil ink on paper
360 x 140 cm


VERA MOTA
Ventriloquism
Exhibition view
Galeria BRUNO MÚRIAS, 2021

VERA MOTA
Antecipação II
2021
Guatemala green marble
31 x 7 cm (each)

VERA MOTA
Garganta
2022
Silicone rubber and aluminium
120 x 40 x 40 cm

VERA MOTA
Garganta
2022
Silicone rubber and aluminium
120 x 40 x 40 cm

VERA MOTA
Similar curves
2020
Ceramics
25 x 12,6 x 5,5 cm (each)

VERA MOTA
Einfühlung II
2021
Estremoz white marble
63 x 18 cm

VERA MOTA
Ventriloquism
Exhibition view
Galeria BRUNO MÚRIAS, 2021

VERA MOTA
Hold
2021
Iron
190 x 60 x 110 cm

VERA MOTA
Fold IV
2021
Aluminium
114 x 170 x 45 cm

VERA MOTA
Ensaio. Pausa, repete
2020
Felt, marble, raw cloth, sand, wood, glass, copper, iron, granite, leather, rubber, aluminium, brass
Variable dimensions
Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection

VERA MOTA
HEAD HAND
2021
Giclée print in Canson Platine Fibre Rag 310g.
77 x 52 cm
Ed. 3 + 1 AP

VERA MOTA
Column
2021
Travertine
211 x 27 x 16 cm

VERA MOTA
Untitled
2020
Oil and linseed oil on paper
78 x 109 cm

VERA MOTA
Untitled
2020
Oil and linseed oil on paper
78 x 109 cm

VERA MOTA
Solid Emotions
2019
Installation view. Espaço 20m2, Porto

VERA MOTA
Untitled (Solid Emotions)
2019
Marble
12 x 18 x 200 cm

VERA MOTA
Untitled (Solid Emotions)
2019
Oil on canvas, pink marble
183 x 22 cm (canvas), 65 x 10 cm (each column)

VERA MOTA
Multiple Heads (Solid Emotions)
2019
Bronze and acrylic on plastic
5 x 140 x 100 cm

VERA MOTA
Curva Contínua
2018
Performance at Serralves Contemporary Art Museum
120′ (aprox.)

VERA MOTA
Anticipation
2018
Leather, wood, aluminium, sand, blue pigment
310 x 90 cm

VERA MOTA
Continuous construction
2018
Iron and wood
140 x 100 x 100 cm

VERA MOTA
Athletes
2018
Clay, iron, MDF, wood
183 x 183 x 122 cm

VERA MOTA
Non-figurative situation – The economy of presence
2017
Marble, iron, fabric, sand
38 x 205 x 30 cm

VERA MOTA
Untitled
2017
Granite and clay
35 x 40 x 45 cm

VERA MOTA
Mergulho
2015
6 wood frames, fabric, glass, stainless steel, plaster, foam, plexiglas box, limestone, wood, brass, latex
170 x 1800 x 7 cm

VERA MOTA
A certain failure
2017
Iron, volcanic rock, sand
25 x 300 x 180 cm

VERA MOTA
One (transparency)
2015
Glass
17 x 300 x 20 cm

VERA MOTA
MODULAR
2014
Performance with the collaboration of Pedro Augusto
40′ (aprox.)
Presented in Festival Circular, Vila do Conde, Portugal

VERA MOTA
SEVERAL
2014
Performance
30′ (aprox.)
Performers: Ana Renata Polónia, Cristina Planas Leitão, Joana von Mayer Trindade, Mariana Amorim, Pedro Augusto and Vera Mota.
Serralves Contemporary Art Museum, Porto