Beatriz Martins

(b. 2000, Cartaxo, Portugal)

Close Reading, 2024
Installation: handmade paper, bioplastic, porcelain, metal
Engravings: etching

Inspired by her surroundings, Beatriz Martins works with different kinds of surfaces, exploring textures and marks. Observing the outside world, she finds details that draw her attention and make her curious enough to stop, dedicate time and discover its impact on her. Those details are marks present on surfaces, traces of something or someone, traces of life that Beatriz wants to make noticeable.

So, with surfaces in mind, she works on them, scratching and damaging them through drawing and creating her own textures through the material and its plasticity. In her work, she finds the process is very important. Trusting it makes it possible for her to explore the material freely, creating her own surfaces where we can recognize lines and dots, search for shapes and shadows, and inspect the uncanniness of their fragility, transparency, and irregularity.

Interview with Beatriz Martins