Helena De Medeiros

Born in Porto, Portugal, Helena de Medeiros, is one Portugal's most sought after contemporary artists. From a young age Helena was destined to be a source of creative excellence. She exhibited a talent for the arts, and combined with the support of family, she has gone onto fulfil her promise in a number of ways.

Having graduated London Fashion School, and Escola Superior de Artes e Design, Helena's first professional creative work was mainly in costume design. Her work quickly gained a reputation which has lead to success internationally in Contemporary Ballet, Theatre, Opera and Cinema. She has collaborated with great choreographers such as Gradimir Pankov, Iracity Cardoso, Louis Robitaille, Mauro Bigonzetti, Richard Wherlock, Vasco Wellemkamp, Xin Peng, who all noted that not only was she uniquely able to design to their high standard and that her collaborative approach was second to none. 

Her ability to add to the dramatic prose told on stage, through her costume, and to combine the character traits, while maintaining physical necessities of the performance set her aside as one to watch and work with.

Parallel to her work in costume, Helena has also had a meteoric career in Fine Arts as a painter. She has exhibited consistently since 1990 in solo and group exhibitions around the world. Her paintings have been described as an important visual dialogue between the integration of the work of her costumes when performed by the dancers, actors and singers. 

Her primary subject is that of ballet. It is without doubt where you see her greatest passions and skill. Her ability to capture motion, heavily influenced by Chagall, is breathtaking and seductive. Her figures twirl and spin either alone or with partners - there is alway a sense of movement - whether by the subjects or the world stage surrounding them. Visually she gives us insight into the energy created by dancers from the ground up. Her ability to convey the near flight like movement of dancers who's feet hardly touch the ground is at once wistful and expressive. 

One of Helena's most important recognitions came during an exhibition to honour the world of Ballet based on the work “Degas. Danse. Dessin" from the writer Paul Valéry. This is a work that shows a poetic and fragmented side of the Degas' art. Paul Valery, nominated for 12 Nobel Prizes in literature was noted primarily for his interests in aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events. The exhibition composed of 26 original engravings by the painter Edgar Degas, the recreations in photography of five works from Degas by the dancer Carlota Rodrigues, four works by the painter Paula Rego, six costumes and one painting by Helena de Medeiros. This exhibition allowed the world to see Helena as a 'bridge' between dancer, artist, costume designer and choreographer. It also cemented her position in subject of ballet as an artist. Since then Helena's become collected globally by institutions, private individuals and public collections.