Some notes about the artist Ção Pestana highlighted under the rubric Um dia, uma obra (“One day, one work”). 

Assunção Pestana was born in Funchal, in 1953. Visual artist and university professor, she holds a bachelor's degree in Cine-Video (1986), a degree in Art, Archaeology and Restoration / DESE (1990), a Master's in Ibero-American History (1996) and a PhD in Didactics and Educational Organization (2011).
She received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, between 1987 and 1988, in Madrid. As a researcher in the artistic field, she has participated as a speaker in different congresses and published documents in the fields of Visual Arts, Information and Communication Technologies and Artistic Education, receiving several mentions for her participation in these publications.
In 1975/1978, she began her public and artistic intervention in the Intervention Group of the Coimbra Plastic Arts Circle (CPAC).
In 1979, with the exhibition Anéis de Vénus ("Rings of Venus") at CPAC, she began her individual artistic journey. She participates and cooperates with Wolf Vostell (German artist pioneer in Video Art and Happening, and active participant in the Fluxus Movement) in the field of performance art.
She membered the Inter-Criatividades (Inter-Creativities) group, at CPAC, between 1979-80, and the VídeoPorto, a group of video-makers in Oporto.
She held several other solo exhibitions, of which we highlight: “Venus/Ção", at CAPC; "Aria II", at the Árvore Gallery; "Refuseds", at the José Rodrigues Foundation; and more recently, in 2018, Olhos Vivos (“Living Eyes”) at Espaço Mira, in Oporto.
She participated in several editions of the Vila Nova de Cerveira Biennial and in several collectives, among which we highlight: Artistas Portugueses de Hoje ("Today’s Portuguese Artists), at the São Paulo Modern Art Museum (Brazil); 50 Anos de Arte Portuguesa ("50 Years of Portuguese Art"), at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum; 30 Anos da Bienal de Vila Nova de Cerveira, Exposição dos Artistas Premiados ("30 Years of the Vila Nova de Cerveira Biennial, Exhibition of Awarded Artists"); Horizonte Móvel - Uma Perspetiva sobre as Artes Plásticas na Madeira, 1960-2008 (“Mobile Horizon - A Perspective on Plastic Arts in Madeira, 1960-2008"), in 2008; Experiência da Forma II (“Form Experience II"), in 2016, at the MUDAS. Madeira Contemporary Art Museum; "Espacio P. 1981-1997", in Madrid (2017); and "LABoral", in Gijón (2018).
She won the following awards: Honourable Mention for Performance Art, in Vila Nova de Cerveira (1985); Portuguese Video Art Award from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1986), for the work Alternâncias (“Alternations”); awarded artist in Imagens Cínicas ("Cynical Images"), at the Vila Nova de Cerveira Biennial, for award-winning artists.
Ção reflects on time, memory, power relations, marginalization, torture and gender issues: "(...) deep down, they are radiographies of societies. The artists do that, they say what is happening at that moment, in a different way from the reporter or document."
She intervenes the visual records of her performances, (re)creating new pieces. Like this series of photographs presented today.
Credits: MUDAS. Madeira Contemporary Art Museum