Margarida Pinheiro: Visual Artist

Margarida Pinheiro (b. 1998) is a London-based artist who mainly works with oil painting as her medium. Margarida explores the world through an autobiographical language. She is interested in pushing the boundaries of portraiture as a genre, using her work as an ongoing process of self-discovery. By depicting memories and scenes inspired by everyday life, she tells her story as a student of human essence and its emotional complexity. Both her childhood and the history of art play an important role in her choice of themes, often referenced through symbolism and linked to her religious upbringing. Margarida’s work carries a nostalgic and sometimes ethereal aura, rooted in her exploration of portraiture that goes beyond physical likeness: “It is about us as humans – the mystery of what we are” (Brook, 2021). Her current work focuses on exploring her romantic relationship with her partner, frequently representing domestic scenes in which the conventional “object of desire” is subverted and reimagined through the lens of a female artist. In this way, she shifts the perspective from the male gaze to the female gaze. Margarida and her partner Francisco are often depicted in everyday moments, or imagined scenarios, where the artist invites the viewer to glimpse the intimacy and complicity of their shared life. By engaging with a subject traditionally dominated by male artists, Margarida assumes the role of storyteller, reframing love, desire, and seduction from a female perspective in a contemporary context