Biography 

Marcella França (Brazil) 

Marcella França is a Brazilian multidisciplinary artist, new media professional and cultural worker based in Montréal. She holds a degree in Visual Communication with a specialization in Audiovisual Studies and Experience Projects (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) and a post-graduation in Video-Dance (Aesthetics of Movement) from the Angel Vianna Dance School in Rio de Janeiro. She is also a VJ and motion/graphic designer who has worked for agencies, artist centres and animation studios in Canada and Brazil. In Montréal, Marcella is a board member of Centre Turbine and La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse. Marcella was a Create Space Forum Grant Participant from STEPS Public Art, ON (2023) and a recipient of the Technology Support Grant for Dance Performers (Scènes Interactives Technologiques , Montréal, 2023). She was awarded as one of the best immersive art of 2020 by SAT - Société des Arts Technologiques (Montréal, 2021), as well as Dance in Focus by her video dance/mobile "GraffitiDance, 2007; a 2nd place in the Young Artist Award in the category of Short Film Video (City of Rio de Janeiro, 1999), with a Honorable Mention Award in the Painting category; and was awarded 1st place in the Graphic Design Stamp in the contest for 190 years of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro (1998). In 2015, she was awarded the Conexão Cultura Brasil Intercâmbios Prize from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture’s Creative Economy Federal Secretariat. 

Marcella’s performances and installations explore and reveal several facets of ecofeminism, decoloniality, immigration, climate change, and the female body. Many of her works center on the element of water, with the artist delving at both its materialities and poetics. Marcella also makes extensive use of interactive audiovisual technologies (such as XR, VR, and movement sensors) as part of her videos, performances, and installations. Marcella’s performances include Zone de Confort (Embodied Spaces Performance Series, Phi Centre, Montréal, 2024); Diluting the Sorrows (articule, Montréal, 2024); Sang-froid (La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montréal, 2023); and The Face of the Rain (SAT Fest, Montréal, 2021). Collective exhibitions include Marées Queer Tides (Galerie Sans Nom, Moncton, NB, 2024); Réclamer Ses Cultures (Jano Lapin Gallery, Montréal, 2024); Festiglace (Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC, 2024); 14e Festival Art souterrain (Place Victoria, Montréal, 2022); O que te Escolhe, te Move e Alcança o Mundo (Espaço Ápis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2020), among others.