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Vanessa Lima

"Art was always present in me," says Vanessa Lima of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. "My passion for painting was already evident in childhood, when I accompanied an aunt to the University of Fine Arts where I drew my first scribbles. At the time, I was eight years old. I entered a painting class, but didn't give it any continuity because the teacher believed a child should paint only flowers.

"But my eye had no limits, and I rushed into my lonely search to paint a little of everything that came into my head. Without tying myself down to any style, I gave colors to my imagination.

"I always wondered where my imagination would take me, in what lands I would walk and what landscapes would capture my attention. The mines of Minas were no longer as 'general' and the while the horizon where I was born was still beautiful, I wanted infinite destinies.

"Encouraged by my father, I began a career as photographer, capturing images and revealing emotions through the lens of my camera. I lived in Italy for two years. Upon returning to Brazil, I spent time in Bahia and went back to Belo Horizonte, always taking photographs. But I felt that something was missing.

"Full of inspiration, I finally released the artist and artisan inside me, and then my soul could play with paints. I developed works on canvas and on bottle gourds, and hot colors are always my main characteristic.

"But I still didn't feel complete and, as every artist needs a muse, I moved to Rio de Janeiro. There in the city, its colors and nuances awaken in me the desire to paint and paint.

"I paint what I like. I paint what I want. This is who I am. This is how I exist."