Ana Albuquerque

Bio

Ana Albuquerque (b.1964, in Lisbon) graduated in Sculpture – Fine Arts in 1994 at F.B.A.L (School of Fine Arts) in Lisbon. In 1986, she attended a Graduate Course in Furniture at the Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Foundation, and attended two Jewellery Degrees at the AR.CO, Centre of Arts & Visual Communication and at the Contacto Directo School, Lisbon between 1989 and 1982 1993/94 Theology at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon. Following these studies, she practised in 1992 at the jewellery workshop at Nunes & Garrido. From further participation in sculpture, jewellery and tapestry workshops, she made her higher education experience a rich and plural one, which soon and on a regular basis, led her to cooperate with several clients and firms in the production of a wide variety of prototypes, artefacts and contemporary jewellery pieces. Since 1993, Gonçalo Villa de Freitas has had the photo credits.

In 2003, she founded with Valentina Garcia her own brand named meet. Since 2007, Ana Albuquerque has been the vice president of PIN – Portuguese Association of Contemporary Jewellery. She has occasionally published reflective texts in Umbigo Magazine and consistently writes about the work she develops, seeking to express the concerns that drive her. She currently lives in Lisbon, working as a drawing teacher while remaining involved in contemporary jewellery objects and projects, both as an artist and as a teacher.
 

Statement

I'm not exactly sure why… Maybe because of the scale, maybe from feeling it in my body, maybe from the constant closeness and intimacy, maybe because it's a small dialogue, maybe from the everyday overflow. This communication, which allows me to find knowledge about something that can't be described with words, where the verb is a palpable material, has accompanied me for as long as I can remember. As a small child, I used to sleep with a handkerchief pressed to my face. Now I almost always use gold in the jewelry I design. Perhaps the greatest constant since I began working. Focusing on this material demands effort, a real need to accomplish and an urgency that imposes over other needs. The metal of the sun, of the eternal, of resistance, of pure relationship with the skin, of what is, in itself, a statement. Maybe it is in this oscillation between that thin cloth almost falling apart and the hard, heavy, cold temperature of the metal, that I find the formalization and purpose of the jewel.
 

CV