Paulo Arraiano is a visual artist whose practice melds nature, urbanity, and the immaterial in compelling, poetic forms. His work traces “emotional cartographies”, mapping the invisible flow between the human body, the landscape, and shifting energies—what he describes as urban acupuncture and visual seismography.
Often exploring the intersection between the human body and the natural environment, Paulo’s practice reflects themes of ecology, technology, and transformation. His installations, videos, and large-scale works capture the shifting relationship between people, landscapes, and systems, creating poetic reflections on the impact of the Anthropocene. He frequently works with organic and digital processes, building immersive environments that visualise hidden energies and emotional landscapes.
Central to Paulo’s work is the idea of mapping—what he describes as “emotional cartographies.” Through layered imagery, sound, and moving forms, he explores how environments store memory and how individuals respond to the invisible rhythms that shape their surroundings. His pieces often function as sensory instruments, inviting audiences to experience the balance between fragility and resilience, presence and absence, matter and antimatter.
As a socially engaged artist and collaborator, Paulo co-founded initiatives that bring together artists, scientists, and communities, including residencies and publishing platforms dedicated to experimental practices. These projects create space for dialogue around sustainability, extinction, and the merging of biological and technological futures.
Paulo’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Europe and internationally, from Lisbon to Milan, Warsaw, Rio de Janeiro, and Rotterdam. His practice extends beyond the gallery into site-specific projects, public installations, and teaching, where he continues to challenge how art can act as both a mirror of ecological change and a catalyst for new ways of imagining the world.
2025
2024
2023
2021
2020
2020
2019
2019
2019
2017
Highlights
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Lagos to Lagos: Unless the Water Is Safer than the Land, Lagos Cultural Center, Lagos
2023 Biophilia [Soft and Tender Extinction Series], Uma Lulik_, Lisbon
2023 The Deep, Morais Leitão Collection, Lisbon
2021 Olokun, Uma Lulik_, Lisbon
2020 Inhale, Exhale (Self Breathing Kit), Travessa da Ermida, Lisbon
2019 Sensorial Divinities, Dimora Artica, Milan
2018 Art Rotterdam, solo booth with Hawaii-Lisbon, Rotterdam
2017 As Always, a Matter of Perspective, Hawaii-Lisbon, Lisbon
2016 While Satellites Dance, TAL Gallery, Rio de Janeiro
2015 Fold/Fault, Forty/Forty, Warsaw
2014 Magma, P28, Cascais
2013 Emotional Landscapes, Arte Institute
Group Exhibitions
2025 Sovereign Art Prize, Lisbon
2024 Infinite Serpent, BF24 Bienalle, V. F. Xira
2023 Traces of a Cathode, S1 Artspace, Sheffield, UK
2022 Chasseurs de Tempêtes, Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brest, France
2022 Inéditos 2022: BAD GIRLS / Becoming Island, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
2021 Denken wie ein Oktopus (Thinking like an Octopus…), Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
2016 Periplos, CAC Málaga Museum, Málaga, Spain
Residencies & Projects
2019 Untitled, Hangar, Lisbon
2014 Hifa – Harare International Festival of Arts, Zimbabwe
2013 Walk & Talk Art Festival, São Miguel Island, Azores
2011 Artur (International Residency Programme), Lagos, Portugal