Thelma Pott

       THELMA POTT was born in 1984. She currently lives and works in Porto. 

After graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon, she completed an MA in Curatorial Studies at the Royal College of Arts at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.

In 2013 she won the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Project Grant in Lisbon. In September 2019, she won the Reclaim Award in Cologne, Germany. Her work was selected by the jury: Tim Berresheim (artist), Stéphane Biesenbach (gallery owner at Galerie Biesenbach), Christof Breidenich (Programme Director Design at the Macromedia Academy of Cologne), Gabriele Conrath-Scholl (Director of the Photographic Collection/SK Kulturstiftung), Ditmar Schädel (Director of the German Society for Photography [DGPh]) and Anja K. Sevcik (Director, Department of Baroque at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Foundation Corboud). In April 2022, she was awarded the WAA Woman Art Award 2022 - a project officially recognised by UNESCO in 2020 as a "Project for Excellence for Gender Equality". In April 2023, Pott will receive the Leonardo Da Vinci Art Award at the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum of Art and Technology in Milan. And on 20 January this year, she was awarded the Botticelli Prize by the Fondazione Efetto Arte at the Palazzo Borghese in Florence. 

In 2017, her work was exhibited as part of the art coalition HANDS OFF OUR REVOLUTION in the group show Poster! at BlackBall Projects Gallery in New York. The banner conveyed the message: The exhibition Hands Off Our Revolution was launched on Thursday, February 16, 2017, with an animated web banner created by British artist Mark Titchner. “Hands off our borders; Hands off our cities; Hands off our homes; Hands off our planet; Hands off our justice; Hands off our loves; Hands off our lives […]”. Hands Off is a group of artists who aim to promote inclusivity and combat prejudice. Through their art, they express their humanity and advocate for the acceptance of all individuals. They encourage people of good conscience to take action against policies that they believe are abhorrent, and call for greater representation in government. The list of artists featured includes John Akomfrah, Laurie Anderson, Yto Barrada, Sophie Calle, Olafur Eliasson, Douglas Gordon, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Steve McQueen, Ed Ruscha, Hito Steyerl and Wolfgang Tillmans. 

       During Autumn 2019, the artist's work was exhibited in Cologne, Germany, as she was awarded the Reclaim Award 2019. This award provided the opportunity for the artist's work to be displayed on public billboards. In 2020, the artist participated in the group exhibition 'Co-Existence 7' at Rossocinabro Gallery in Rome from April to July. Additionally, in May of the same year, the artist took part in the group show 'Nude Affiliation & Portraiture' at Pepney Gallery in Cavan, Ireland. In April 2021, her work was featured in Rome as part of the group exhibition 'Artists of Today and of Tomorrow', curated by Monica Ferrarini. The exhibition book was introduced by the curator on the Italian art TV channel, Arte 24. In July 2021, she took part in the group show 'Rebirth' at the Florence Contemporary Gallery. 

      Later, in October 2021, her work was exhibited at the Florence Biennale in Italy. During the Biennale, she had the opportunity to perform at Michelangelo Pistoletto and Angelo Savarese's performance 'La Bandiera del Mondo 1+1=3'. In November, her work was exhibited in the group show 'Contemporary Venice 9 - Mixing Identities and Future Landscapes', which was curated by Luca Curci and held at the Misericordia Archives in Venice. 

In 2022, her work was also featured in the group show 'State of the Art', curated by Monica Ferrarini, which opened in January at Palazzo Maffei Marescotti in Rome. The artist exhibited her drawings at the group exhibition 'Multitude', curated by Anna Isoppo, at the Luciana Matalon Foundation in Milan in March 2022. In April of the same year, her work was shown at Tana Art Space as part of the pioneer project Biennale Art Box Expo at the Venice Biennale. Additionally, Pott exhibited in Paris at Gallery 24b in the group show 'Women's Essence', curated by Professor Laura di Trapani.

Later in 2022, the artist had her first solo exhibition, 'Hidden Place', at Gubian Gallery in Porto, Portugal. This exhibition premiered on May 14th and ran until July 9th, marking her debut in the country.

       In 2023, Pott exhibited at Euro Airport Basel during Art Basel Week in Basel, Switzerland. Later that year, she participated in the group show 'Unseen Reality' at Museo Villa Paolina Bonaparte in Viareggio. 

The artist's work has been acknowledged by various art publications such as Art Ascent and Aesthetica, both Canadian and British respectively. Additionally, her work has been featured in the artist's directory of Aesthetica's June/July 2019 edition and published in Inside Artists' Spring/Summer 2020 edition.   Her work has also been showcased in Art Hole Magazine's June 2020 edition.  Recently, The Flux Review conducted a Q&A with the artist in November 2020.In March 2021, Amaryllis was featured in the British Art Magazine BlueBee.In February of the same year, Contemporary Art Curator published her work as part of the exhibition The Butterfly Effect, curated by the eponymous art collective. Additionally, her work was published in the tenth edition of Altiba 9, which was present at the art book fair ARTLIBRIS Barcelona and the art fairs ARCO Madrid and ARCO Lisboa in March 2022.    Pott's work was featured in Art Seen, a British art magazine, in May 2022 and in Artists' Close Up Magazine in September 2023. 

         Her photography series can be viewed on LensCulture.