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Mariana Gillot
About
Artist's statement
My work emerges from an intimate dialogue between sculpture and narrative—a sculptural storytelling where form, texture, and symbolism converge to evoke the unseen. I am drawn to materials that carry memory and weight, whether literal or metaphorical, and I strive to give voice to what lies beneath the surface of things.
Each piece I create reflects a journey—sometimes mythical, sometimes personal, often both. I explore themes such as transformation, ancestry, the feminine, and the fantastical, constructing visual metaphors that invite the viewer into imagined territories. Sculpture becomes for me a territory of resistance and play, where the tactile quality of objects speaks of both fragility and strength.
I see my practice as a space of poetic intervention, open to contradiction, intuition, and mystery. Art, for me, is about listening to what the material wants to become—allowing the unexpected to shape the narrative.
Through my exhibitions and public work, I aim to create immersive environments that suspend time, inviting contemplation, curiosity, and presence.
Biography
Mariana Gillot is a Lisbon-born artist (1975) whose work in sculpture reflects a vivid and imaginative engagement with materiality and narrative. She studied Sculpture at Ar.Co – Center for Art and Visual Communication in Lisbon, and has since developed a career marked by bold conceptual approaches and poetic visual language.
Gillot has held numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the immersive “Viagem aos confins encantados de Xentra” at the Palácio de Seteais in Sintra, and “Lab Rats” at Galeria António Prates in Lisbon. She has been featured in major international art fairs such as Arte Lisboa, Art Madrid, Volta Basel, Affordable Art Fair London (Battersea Spring and Hampstead), Brussels, Stockholm, and the Hamptons Fine Art Fair. She is represented by Galeria António Prates (Lisbon) and Galerie Makowski (Berlin and New York).
Among her recognitions are an Honorable Mention for the piece Oh tinto afina o Fado in the exhibition Amália: Um Olhar Contemporâneo (António Prates Gallery), and the acquisition of her work The Time is Now by Sony Pictures Entertainment as part of AXN White’s “Luta Rosa, Pensa Rosa” initiative, in partnership with the Portuguese League Against Cancer, Lusíadas Saúde, and El Corte Inglés.
Her work Gadus Morhua is part of the permanent collection at the Ílhavo Maritime Museum, through the Nuno Sacramento Contemporary Art Gallery. Gillot’s practice has been profiled in several publications, including Ar.tes, Le Monde Diplomatique, and Directarts Internacional.