Pedro Pires

Pedro Pires is among the most compelling voices in contemporary international art. Born in Luanda, Angola, in 1978, and holding dual Angolan and Portuguese nationality, his work explores identity, migration, and human rights through a deeply personal lens. Navigating between sculpture, installation, and drawing, Pires creates powerful anthropomorphic figures using mass-produced, industrial materials. These are transformed through intense processes such as welding, combustion, and deconstruction—acts that symbolically echo themes of trauma, memory, and resilience.

His unique visual language, marked by burn marks, perforations, and molten metal traces, evokes a dialogue between destruction and reconstruction. These artworks do not merely depict bodies—they suggest their fragmentation, metamorphosis, and rebirth, reflecting both individual and collective histories.

Pires’ career spans over a decade and includes exhibitions at institutions like the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Christie’s London, and participation in prestigious international events such as 1:54 Art Fair in London and New York, the Cape Town Art Fair, Arco Lisboa, ExpoChicago, and the Lagos Biennial. His works are included in important public and private collections, among them the Fondation Montresso (Morocco), Blachère Foundation (France), and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Canada).

He holds an MFA from Central Saint Martins in London and a BA in Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon. He has been artist-in-residence at institutions like the Blachère Foundation, Fondation Montresso, and Delfina Foundation. Pedro Pires continues to interrogate contemporary issues through a body of work that is as intellectually grounded as it is visually striking.