Joana Villaverde was born in Lisbon (b. 1970), and lives and works in Avis.

She exhibits regularly in Portugal and abroad since 1998. Joana held a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for the Location One residency in New York and was artist in Residence at the Guest House of the Qattan Foundation in Ramallah.

She regularly collaborates in theatre, with the creation of set designs for productions presented in several national theatres. She has published “Emma” (Iron Horse, 2003) and “Animals Nightmare” (Documenta Editions, 2017).

In 2016 she developed the “Mar” project, with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Bensaúde Group. She opens her Officina Mundi atelier in Avis in 2018, where she assumes artistic direction and programming.

Her work is represented in the MAAT-Fundação EDP Collection, the Fernando Ribeiro Collection headquarters, Diocese of Beja and in several private collections in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, United States of America and Palestine.