The Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat (MMVI) is exhibiting two major installations by renowned Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. The first work represents the character of Mary Poppins, while the second, “Royal Valkyrie”, is an exuberant warrior goddess.
As part of the celebration of its ten years of creation, the hall of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat (MMVI) welcomes two most striking monumental installations by renowned Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. These two works artistic works, called “Mary Poppins” and “Royal Valkyrie”, occupy pride of place in the Museum hall and invite the visitor on a dreamlike walk where tradition and modernity, femininity and power mingle. “Mary Poppins,” with its sprawling shape and bright color palette, is distinguished by its six protective arms sprouting from a central body.
She skillfully combines industrial textures and hand-stitched fabrics, fusing traditional craftsmanship and modern materials. “Royal Valkyrie” represents, for its part, an exuberant warrior goddess, dressed in floral brocades with patterns and techniques inspired by Nisa, a Portuguese village renowned for its artisanal know-how. The soft sculptures making up this installation, made with hooks and strands of fabric, recall Portuguese baroque art with an innovative vision specific to the artist. Beyond their aesthetic aspect, Joana’s works deconstruct codes and question our relationship to the world, to society and to ourselves. With subtle irony, she pushes the audience to reflect on the established norms and traditional roles attributed to women in a world where consumption is omnipresent.
About the artist
Course Born in 1971, Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese visual artist whose career, spanning over 30 years, encompasses a vast diversity of mediums. Recognized for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations, she decontextualizes everyday objects and updates the concept of arts and crafts for the 21st century, establishing a dialogue between the private sphere and public space, popular heritage and refined culture. She questions the status of women, consumer society and collective identity with humor and irony. Joana’s international recognition came in 2005 with “The Bride” at the first female-led Venice Biennale, where she has since exhibited three times. In 2013, as head of Trafaria Praia, she represented Portugal as the event’s first floating pavilion. She was the first woman and the youngest artist to present an exhibition at the Palace of Versailles. In 2012, its exhibition attracted a record number of 1.6 million visitors, becoming the most visited in France in 50 years. In 2018, she became the first Portuguese artist to benefit from a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, which was the third most visited in the history of the museum, and according to The Art Newspaper, the fourth best exhibition of the year . In 2023, she exhibited at the Uffizi Galleries and the Pitti Palace in Florence alongside art masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. His Wedding Cake for Waddesdon Manor was called by The Guardian “the first decidedly joyful artistic masterpiece of the 21st century” and was ranked second in its list of “the best works of art and architecture” of 2023. His works have also been featured in prestigious exhibitions around the world.
