Anna Nunes
A visual artist working across Europe and West Africa, Anna Nunes (1993 PT) creates participatory installations that reframe heritage and memory through feminist and decolonial lenses. Her transnational practice focuses on reactivating female-led ceramic traditions, sacred ecologies, and embodied cultural knowledge in postcolonial contexts.
Education
2017 – MSc Biology, Behavior & Adaptation, Wageningen University (NL)
2012 – BSc Forest & Nature Conservation, Ecology, Wageningen University (NL)
Professional Development
2024 – Sculpture course with artist Ingrid Rekers, The Hague (NL)
2022 – Member of This Work Club, This Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL)
2021–2023 – Writing coaching by Yoeke Nagel, supported by Foundation Voordekunst (NL)
2022 – Masterclass Cultural Networking by Nienke van der Wal, Museum Schiedam (NL)
2022 – Masterclass Writing About Art by Marijan Cousijn, Museum Schiedam (NL)
Selected Exhibitions
2025 – Aflorar | Terra e Memória, Instituto Camões, Lisbon (PT)
2024 – ART The Hague, OpenArtExchange, The Hague (NL)
2024 – X Biennial of São Tomé and Príncipe (STP)
2024 – Limburg Biennale, Marres, Maastricht (NL)
2023 – ART The Hague, OpenArtExchange, The Hague (NL)
2023 – SKIN, CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam (NL)
2023 – TIES, OpenArtExchange, Schiedam (NL)
2023 – Art in the Park, INNOCOM, Beerzel (BE)
2022 – In Memory – Dutch Portrait Prize, Loods 6, Amsterdam (NL)
2022 – Alternative Realities, Museum Night, Amare, The Hague (NL)
2021 – Taking you there…, Warnars & Warnars Art Dealers, Haarlem (NL)
2021 – ART The Hague, Uit Het Gareel, The Hague (NL)
2021 – Faraway Places, Uit Het Gareel, The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague (NL)
2019 – Museum Night (Jubilee Edition), The Hague (NL)
Lectures/ Presentations / Workshops
Upcoming
October 2025 – Workshops: À Volta do Barro, Ceramics of the island of Boa Vista – Cape Verde, Ceramic traditions with ceramist Alcides Morais, Verhalenhuis Belvedere, Rotterdam (NL),
Past
2025 – Workshop: Tracing Clay, Tracing Care, EcoBody Gatherings, part of Life on Earth: Art & Ecofeminism, West Den Haag (NL)
2024 – Workshops: VAMOS EXPERIMENTAR, Ceramics of the island o Santiago – Cape Verde, Project À Volta do Barro in collaboration with ceramist Isabel Sanches and artist Virginia Frois, supported by Municipality of Lisbon, Fablab, Lisboa (PT)
2022 – Talk: Alternative Realities, Museum Night, Amare, The Hague (NL)
2020 – Lecture: Wild Being, De Lievelinge, Vuren (NL)
2019 – Talk: The Line1 Parade, De Broodfabriek, Rijswijk (NL)
2019 – Talk: Recapture of Paradise, Museum Night, The Hague (NL)
Collections
Works held in private and public collections in the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and the United States. Including CBK Zuidoost (NL) and CIMART BV (BE).
International Projects / Residencies
2025 – À Volta do Barro, Rabil, Cape Verde
Residency with the last remaining practitioners of the female-led ceramic tradition of the island of Boa Vista. The project supported and reinforced the continuity of this practice through intergenerational dialogue and experimentation with ancestral techniques. Supported by: Municipality of Sal Rei, CAC – Centro de Artes e Cultura. In collaboration with: curator Ricardo Barbosa Vicente
2024 – À Volta do Barro, FabLab Lisbon, Portugal
Residency with ceramicist Isabel Sanches, focused on the female-led ceramic heritage of Trás de Monte (Santiago, CV). Through workshops in Lisbon, the project reawakened this interrupted lineage in dialogue with diaspora and Afro-descendant communities in an urban context. Supported by: Fablab, Lisbon City Council. In collaboration with: curator Ricardo Barbosa Vicente and artist/researcher Prof. Virginia Fróis
2023–2024 – O Mundo Imaginário, Santana, São Tomé (STP)
Participatory installation co-created with local children in the village of Santana, exploring play as cultural memory and resistance. Developed as part of the artistic residencies of the X Biennale of São Tomé and Príncipe. Supported by: Bienal de São Tomé e Príncipe, SOMA – Organisation for Gender Equality
2020–2022 – MeeMakers, participatory art collective, the Netherlands
Co-founder of a platform focused on artistic participation. Supported by: Foundation Voordekunst, Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, Platform ACCT, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
2017–2018 – Sacred Forests, Boé, Guinea-Bissau
With the Fulani communities of the Boé region, developed Sacred Forests, a project focused on the preservation of sacred forest traditions and their role in biodiversity and cultural resilience. Award-winning project, leading to the international recognition of spiritual forests as protected heritage in the Boe region. Supported by: Wageningen University, Chimbo Foundation, Government of Guinea-Bissau
Awards and Grants
2024 – Project Grant, International Cooperation, Fund for Cultural Participation (NL)
2023 – Research Grant, Exploration, Fund for Cultural Participation (NL)
2018 – Willem Barentsz Award, Wageningen University (NL)
Press & Publications
2025 – Presidency of Cabo Verde, Official visit to the exhibition Aflorar: Terra e Memória at Instituto Camões, Lisbon — Watch here
The President of Cabo Verde, José Maria Neves, highlighted the exhibition as a powerful connection between past and present, tradition and modernity. The visit marked the public recognition of female-led pottery practices from Fonte Lima, Trás-os-Montes (Santiago), and Boa Vista, and celebrated the launch of the international project “Outcrop: Heritages in Transition,” which will travel through Cabo Verde, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
2025 – Instituto Camões, exhibition article: Aflorar: Terra e Memória — Access here
2025 – RTC Cabo Verde, reportage on À Volta do Barro, Boa Vista — Watch here
2025 – Inforpress, coverage of cultural exchange residency — Read here
2023 – Catalogue Art in the Park, INNOCOM – Group exhibition curated by Ernest Van Buynder and Natania Dan, with works by Paul Van Hoeydonck, Jean Bilquin, Nick Ervinck, Vexx, Anna Nunes and Guévørk Aivazian
