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Artist biography
Growing up, I was always torn between the sciences and art. When the time came to decide which area to pursue in my professional career, I chose biology, as I have always been deeply curious about animal behaviour and species identification. However, I never stopped drawing, and I vividly remember that my first interest in scientific illustration emerged during my biology degree. Since then, I have focused on biology-related subjects, using drawings as a tool to help me translate biological processes or to study zoology, detailing the morphological characteristics used to distinguish different groups.
After completing my MSc in Ecology, I realised I wanted to continue developing my drawing skills. I decided to learn more about illustration techniques and the principles of scientific illustration, so I enrolled in some classes on the Scientific Illustration course at the University of Aveiro.
Throughout my multidisciplinary journey, I have strived to balance my work as a researcher in various marine conservation projects with developing illustrations for botanists and a design company in my spare time. After a while, the demands of managing both aspects led me to put illustration on hold for a time.
Three years ago, I moved to Faial Island to work as a research assistant with the Azores Deep-Sea Research (ADSR) group. It was only last year that I felt a strong urge to return to illustration. My role in the team primarily involves the identification of benthic species from underwater video footage collected in various deep-sea areas of the Azores. While observing this incredible biodiversity and learning more about it, I began to notice the fascinating species, their textures, colours, and behaviours, which most people are unaware of or do not have access to. Gradually, I started illustrating some of these species that piqued my interest, and I also took part in illustration competitions to stay motivated. This caught the attention of filmmaker PEPEBrix, who, at the time, was working with our team on a series of episodes about the deep-sea called Minuto Azul Escuro. He challenged me to create two illustrations for the series’ opening credits.
As a result of this growing interest, this year I have been proudly working both as a research assistant and a scientific illustrator for the ADSR team, creating illustrations of the main benthic communities of the Azores deep-sea to help us communicate and connect broader audiences to its incredible diversity. This is still a work in progress, but I hope it will make the deep-sea more approachable for people who are previously disconnected from it and bring more opportunities to continue developing my illustration skills to visually translate scientific knowledge.
Currently, I am looking for ways of combining research and contemporary art in my career. I became an ‘artist member’ of the Deep-Sea Biology Society in 2023.
Artworks
1. Bathysphere and a Submarine for Minuto Azul Escuro series
These illustrations are part of the Minuto Azul Escuro series’ open credits. The first one represents the bathysphere – the first submersible used for deep-sea exploration – while the second depicts a submarine inspired by modern submersibles used for deep-sea research. Both illustrations were created after weeks of studying past and present equipment used to explore the deep sea, as well as fauna illustrations and records from previous generations of illustrators. Together with Pepe Brix and the ADSR team we collaboratively planned the drawings and recorded hours-long time-lapses of me illustrating.
2. The orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus)
This illustration was created for the 11th International Award on Scientific and Nature Illustration Illustraciencia. It depicts the morphology of the orange roughy based on in situ observations made through video recordings.
3. Carrying behaviour in Paromola cuvieri
This illustration was created for the 10th International Award on Scientific and Nature Illustration Illustraciencia. It was inspired by the observations conducted by Braga-Henriques et al. in 2011, which provided images of the carrying behaviour exhibited by this species. This illustration represents two of the various objects that P. cuvieri predominantly carried during the study: (a.) P. cuvieri carrying a gorgonian from the genus Acanthogorgia, and (b.) P. cuvieri carrying a demosponge.
