Antonia Figueiredo

Antonia Figueiredo is an artist originally from São Paulo, Brazil, now based in Tallinn, Estonia. For a long time, distance from her home felt essential to her growth. Leaving Brazil seven years ago, she believed that moving forward meant not looking back. Recently, that relationship has begun to shift. While she still resists the idea of São Paulo as home, she has become increasingly interested in understanding how the place she came from continues to shape who she is becoming. She reflects on distance from her place of origin and the impact it has had on her sense of self – a perspective that continues to shape how she approaches making.

Before working full time as an artist, Antonia built a career as a freelance digital illustrator. That background still informs her approach today, particularly in the way she plans and structures her compositions. Her recent work reflects a more intentional pace, with a growing focus on the stories she wants her paintings to hold and share.

Dream Images and Material Intuition

Many of Antonia’s paintings begin as dream images. Once an image takes shape in her mind, she creates a digital mock-up before moving into the physical process of painting. As the work develops, the intention behind it becomes clearer, guiding decisions around colour, texture and form. Acrylic and oil pastels are her primary materials, chosen for their tactile richness and ability to carry emotion through surface and gesture.

While Antonia resists defining fixed motifs in her work, certain elements return organically. Botanical forms, animals and the female body appear frequently, emerging through intuition rather than planning. Colour plays a central role, not as a symbol with fixed meaning, but as something shaped by mood, texture and sensation. Combined with layered surfaces, it creates a sense of depth and vulnerability that mirrors the personal experiences informing her practice. Whether working from memory, dream or feeling, her paintings remain open-ended, allowing meaning to unfold slowly over time.