Three questions to Maria R Saunders
Maria Saunders, 1990. Cascais, Portugal. Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, and completed a Master in Fine Arts at the Chelsea College of Art & Design at the University of the Arts in London.
It's in her studio that she finds her identity and works to justify her own existence. It's also here that she compulsively reads, writes and paints. It's in this compound triangle that she appropriates visual metaphors whenever reality is not enough.
Maria, for those who do not know you, when did art meet you in life? Tell us more about your artistic journey.
Art entered my life as it does for everyone when we are children, with my first box of coloured pencils or watercolours, and it gradually took root up to the present day. There was no key moment I can point to as the first appearance of art in my life. It was as natural as that. From there, after completing my normal schooling, I entered the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, where I graduated in Painting. I also spent time at the Brera Academy in Milan, but it was in London, during my Master’s in Fine Arts at Chelsea College of Art, that I truly explored painting. It was there that I experienced intensely what it means to be a visual artist.
We see the shape of women and mother figure in a lot of your recent paintings. Where do you find the balance and common ground between you as an artist and motherhood?
From the moment my children were born, motherhood entered my studio in both a literal and metaphorical sense. It’s impossible to separate one from the other. My children are a part of my studio, and it’s entirely possible to work amidst the chaos that has settled into my days. I’m not a mother during certain hours and an artist during others—I am always both. the theme of womanhood is not a theme; it’s my identity, which suddenly multiplies into the identities of countless other women. the beauty I find while working lies precisely in such intimate details, which unexpectedly become shared by millions of other women—they are never solely mine. What might appear to be deeply personal work is, in fact, the opposite.
Literature, specially poetry seems to be a great source of inspiration, which poets would you like to highlight that impacted you as an artist?
Poetry is indeed the most visual form of literature. I often wonder if it truly belongs more to the world of the arts rather than the realm of literature. the poets who “accompany” me are often reflective of what I am working on or going through at any given time. Right now, I've got poetry by Samuel Beckett and Mary Oliver in front of me. João Luís Barreto Guimarães has been a constant presence in recent years. Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen’s complete works never leave my studio, just as Ovid’s Metamorphoses have been intertwined with my work for a long time. However, I cannot pinpoint a top three list of authors. I can look back and see the many different artists I have been and know exactly which books were with me during those times.
Our top selection of Maria’s works
