EVA ROCHA
Eva Rocha is a multimedia artist from Brazil. After working as an actress and performer in her country, she studied Cultural Studies and Art at the undergraduate level in the United States and in the Andes of Peru. In 2016 she earned her Masters of Fine Arts Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, with a focus in Kinetic Imaging.
In 2015, after a strong solo show in an abandoned warehouse, in which she used multimedia installations to comment on media dehumanization, object-oriented art and its relationship to current social issues such as human trafficking, she was honored with the Theresa Pollack Award for Excellence in the Arts in the category of Emerging Artist. In 2015 she was also selected as a “Woman in the Arts” by Style Magazine, an annual award recognizing women who have made an outstanding social impact through the arts; And her project Object-Orientalis, displayed at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, won the People's Choice Award in an event attended by twenty-one thousand people. Her work has been included in special exhibitions at the following museums: Art Museum of the Americas in 2013, Museu Brasileiro de Escultura in 2013, the MOCA-VA in 2015, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 2015, the King William Museum in 2016; The Valentine and the Taubman Museum in 2017.
Eva Rocha’s installation environments confront viewers with traumatic aspects of history and human experience that have been, directly or indirectly, denied through the repression of personal or collective archives.
EDUCATION
2016 Master of Fine Arts: Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU School of the Arts: Richmond, VA USA.
2008 Art student at the Escuela de Arte Mario Urteaga: Cajamarca - PERU
ARTS
2017 Santa Fe Art Institute: Equal Justice International sponsored residency, Santa Fe, NM
2017 ArtPrize Nine: Object-Orientalis display at Fed Gallery: Grand Rapids, MI - (October)
2017 Fed Galleries at KCAD: "Society of Spectacle" Grand Rapids, Michigan - (Aug 29 to Oct 14)
2017 Taubman Museum: Homeward Bound 2017 juried triennial: Roanoke, VA - (Dec 2016 -Jul 2017)
2017 Anderson Gallery Six Alumni residency show: Richmond, VA (Aug 6- Sept 30)
2017 Awarded ArtPrize Seed-Grant (July)
2017 Reynolds Gallery: Solo - thread work: Richmond, VA (July)
2017 Awarded CultureWorks Grant Richmond, VA (July)
2017 Awarded Richmond Memorial Health Foundation Visiting Artist Project Gran, RVA (June)
2017 Valentine Museum: “Our Hearts on Our Sleeves" Richmond, VA. (April - Dec)
2016 William King Museum: install “Bride”/"Dowry"/"Bulk" VA.
2016 Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA-VA: “New Waves 2016” VA.
2016 Awarded "Women in the Arts" by Style Magazine, VA.
2015 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts VMFA: artist resident during the exhibition "Rodin: Evolution of a Genius” Richmond, VA.
2015 Awarded “Theresa Pollak Award for Excellence in the Arts” - in the category Emerging Artist: Richmond Magazine, VA.
2015 Winner of the 1708 Galery Inlight Festival People’s Choice Award at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' for installation Object- Orientalis” Richmond, VA.
2014 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: "After Botero's After Velasquez" puppet commissioned for "VMFA Family Day: Colombia" displayed at VMFA’s Atrium.
2014 Art Space: Installation "Fodder:: Beauty" Richmond, VA.
2013 Museo Brasileiro de Escultura MUBE: “Gilded” Cupcake Project. Brazil.
2013 Art Museum of Americas AMA: “Procession - a Memorial Installation for the Dead:” displayed in a mobile gallery. Washington, DC.
2013 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: Chancay Puppets commissioned for "VMFA Family Day: Peru" displayed at VMFA’s Atrium September 21 and subsequently displayed at Focus Education Gallery. Work acquired for the VMFA Education collection.
2012 6th Biennial International Miniature Invitational Think Small, Art Space: work “Eaves” made from human hair on fiberglass, displayed and featured in Style Magazine article, “Let’s Get Small.” Richmond, VA.
AWARDS
2015 Awarded Theresa Pollack Award for Excellence in the Arts in the category of Emerging Artist, Richmond, VA.
2016 Awarded “Woman in the Arts” by Style Magazine, Richmond, VA.
AWARD GRANTS
2017 Awarded ArtPrize Seed-Grant (July)
2017 Awarded CultureWorks Grant, Richmond, VA.
2017 Awarded Richmond Memorial Health Foundation Visiting Artist Project Grant, Richmond, VA.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2017 Equal Justice International sponsored residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute. Santa Fe, NM
2017 The Anderson Gallery: Alumni Summer Studio Residency, VA.
2016 Vermont Center Studios: Artist resident, VT.
2015 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: artist resident during the exhibition "Rodin: Evolution of a Genius” Richmond, VA.