Artista, investigadora e editora, trabalho na intersecção entre fotografia, publicação e práticas curatoriais. A minha prática desenvolve-se através da msdm – mobile strategies of display & mediation, uma plataforma editorial e de investigação que opera como estúdio móvel, arquivo vivo e dispositivo de experimentação.
O meu trabalho explora a relação entre imagem, território e ecologias mais-que-humanas, com foco em metodologias participativas, práticas de campo e arquivos vernaculares. Desenvolvo projetos que cruzam fotografia, edição, instalação e media experimentais, frequentemente em colaboração com comunidades, investigadores e contextos locais.
A publicação é entendida como prática expandida, onde texto, imagem e matéria se organizam como infraestruturas de pensamento e partilha. O meu trabalho tem sido apresentado em exposições, publicações e programas públicos em contextos nacionais e internacionais.
Biografia
Posição de trabalho
Trabalho infraestrutural
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Artist, researcher and editor, I work at the intersection of photography, publishing and curatorial practices. My practice unfolds through msdm – mobile strategies of display & mediation, an editorial and research platform that operates as a mobile studio, living archive and experimental device.
My work explores the relationship between image, territory and more-than-human ecologies, with a focus on participatory methodologies, fieldwork practices and vernacular archives. I develop projects that bring together photography, publishing, installation and experimental media, often in collaboration with communities, researchers and local contexts.
Publishing is understood as an expanded practice, where text, image and matter are organised as infrastructures for thinking and sharing. My work has been presented in exhibitions, publications and public programmes in national and international contexts.
Working infrastructurally
Economy of life
Invisible Pedagogies
Biography
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EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
Herbário Metabólico / Poções (plantas, imagem e ecologias de cura). HERB FEST 2026 O Solo é Mãe, as Plantas são Família. Montado Freixo do Meio, Montemor-o-Novo. Maio 2026
EMARANHADOS: Humanos e plantas em presença (Exercícios de atenção com fotografias encontradas). Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra / Programa Convergentes. Maio 2026
Andamentos no espaço e no tempo, MiraForum Gallery, September 2025
Isto não é um herbário! Alberg'art Gallery, Porto September 2025
One green eye the other blue. Herbarium of the anthropocene, MiraForum Gallery, March 2025
Follow Y/Our River (Books of Water), Totally Thames Festival and Copeland Gallery, London, 2024
'paula' & Work: A Document on the Machinic Enslavement in Academic Capitalism 2023-24, Borough Road Gallery, London, 2024
Publishing as Watery Strategy - The work of paula roush and msdm publications, IMAGO Gallery Lisbon, 2024
Places of Unrest and Restoration, The Silver Record Festival, Platform Gallery, Vaasa, 2024
The Library of Artistic Print on Demand, German National Library, Leipzig and Museum VILLA STUCK, Munich, 2024)
"A title that brings us together”, msdm House-Studio-Gallery Woolwich, London, 2023
Follow Y/Our River Lea-minal Edges: Borough Road Gallery, London, 2023
Liquid Memory, Water Museum, Lisbon 2023
liquid memories ~to read with water, 2022, Borough Road Gallery, London, 2022
Museums Without Walls, Isabel Bader Centre, Kingston CA, 2022
BOX. UNBOX, Godsbanen Arts Centre, Aarhus Denmark, 2022
Memoria Liquida, Casa da Imagem Vila Nova de Gaia, 2021
Trabalhos Liquidos & Jerricans, Cozinha Gallery, Porto, 2021
Paintball Field, Barreiro Photography Month, The Red Gallery, Barreiro 2019
Infinite Multiple, Carrol Fletcher and Arebite Galleries, London, UK, 2017-2018
UNBOUND, Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury UK, 2017
Torn Folded Curled, Makan Project Space, Beirut, 2015
Queer Paper Gardens, Museu da Electricidade, Lisbon, 2013
Dreaming Through –On & Into the Exotic, Contemporary Arts and Learning, London, 2013
CURATORIAL PROJECTS (SELECTION)
ə/uh/-books project space for material publishing, London South Bank University, 2016-2018
The Book Dispersed, publishing as relational experience, Casa das Artes +Sput&Nik the Window, Porto, 2017
Faz Tu Mesmx- Arte por Instrução/ DIY: Art by Instruction, Sput&Nik The Window Gallery, Porto, 2016
Hetero q.b.,international video programme, Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisboa, 2013
Off the s{h}elf: the self and subjectivity in the artist’s book, Stockwell Studios, London
New Territories/Novos Territórios
Pavilhão 28 Espaço Expositivo do Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, Lisbon, 2009
Mundos Locais Local Worlds
Centro Cultural de Lagos, 2008
Welcome Goodbye Adeus Obrigada- Journeys, dislocations and imaginary nations
Blue Elephant Theatre & Little Portugal, UK 2006
POSTSCRIPT (Part One): Portuguese Live Art in the Age of Scripted Reality, [SPACE] London, 2004
PUBLICATIONS (SELECTION)
-One Green Eye, the Other Blue: Herbarium of the Anthropocene, Monograph, 2025:
A pocket-sized publication emerging from a passage through industrial ruination, historical and domestic archives, and territories in transformation. Structured as a speculative herbarium rooted in the Campanhã area (Porto), the book combines cyanotypes, botanical materials and editorial fragments, unfolding as a technobiography in dialogue with more-than-human ecosystems.
ISBN: 978-1-7396192-7-5
-Wide Load [Bred Last]: A House Moved, Monograph, 2023:
A collaborative publication documenting architectural house-moving practices through photography, archival research and collective authorship. The book developed across multiple institutional contexts and editions, exploring mobility, labour and reuse as spatial and cultural strategies.
ISBN: 978-1-7391803-1-7
-Photobook Is / Did You Mean Photo Book Is, Photobook, 2020:
An AI-generated publication investigating photobook print-on-demand as a critical media practice. Structured in two sections, the book examines the term “photobook” across vernacular, technical and theoretical contexts, alongside patent diagrams related to automated photobook production systems.
ISBN: 9798669289034
- Follow Y/Our River Lea-minal Edges: Prompts for Transitory States of Being, Artist's Book, 2023: Documents the "Follow Y/Our River" project, highlighting ecological awareness
and personal development through artistic inquiry.
ISBN: 978-1-7390996-4-0
- Follow Y/Our River: A Manual for Deep
Mapping in the Lower Lea Valley, Educational
Manual, 2023: Guides a place-based teaching
approach, utilizing deep mapping techniques
for exploring watery landscapes.
ISBN: 978-1-7390996-5-7
- Liquid Memories~ to read with water,
Artist's Book, 2022: Accompanies the
"LiquidMemories" project, exploring water's
interconnection with memory and narrative
through participatory art practices.
ISBN: 978-0-9553793-5-2
-WATER PRINTS, 2022
An archive of experiments testing the interaction of prints with water, and varied painting and paper folding techniques.
ISBN: 9781739099602
AWARDS
Fundació Mies van der Rohe Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture
The Instituto Camões and the Embassy of Portugal in Denmark award for BOX. UNBOX exhibition at Godsbaden Aarhus
London Erasmus grant recipient in collaboration with Victoria Browne, Publishing Studio / KHiO Oslo Art Academy
Bus-Spotting + A Story (photobook) short-listed for Photo-Text Award, Arles Rencontres de Photographie
School of Arts & Creative Industries grant recipient, Research for monograph on photobook publishing Arab Image Foundation residency in the photographic archives,
Beirut PlanBEY Makan residency in the publishing studio, Beirut
Nothing To Undo (photobook) First Prize: The Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize
Nothing To Undo (photobook) shortlisted for The Kassel Fotobook Festival
Centre for Media & Culture Research (LSBU) grant recipient to research printmaking technologies integrated into photobook publishing at the Thames Barrier Print Studio
ADXISTUR grant recipient to develop participatory project Xistorias, Gois Schist Villages, Pt
Gulbenkian UK/ Instituto Camoes, grant recipient to curate ‘Welcome Goodbye Adeus Obrigada’
SPACE Commission to develop participatory project Bowville, Bow road pop-up space,
London Arts Council England, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Southwark Council, South East London Community Foundation and Community Renewal Unit grants, grants recipient in collaboration with Coleman Project Space to develop participatory project SOS OK Emergency Biscuit, London
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Founder & Lead Artist | msdm (mobile strategies of display & mediation) | 2004 -Present
- Spearheads a collective platform at the nexus of art, curatorial and publishing practices, focusing on contemporary mobility and ecological issues.
- Directs projects utilising mobile strategies, transforming vacant sites into spaces of artistic and cultural exchange.
- Fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, integrating para-architectural methodologies, digital technologies and relational aesthetics.
- Senior Lecturer | London South Bank University, School of Arts and Creative Industries | 2006 - 2025
- Develops and delivers curriculum on contemporary art practices.
- Supervises innovative student research projects, emphasizing social and ecological engagement.
EDUCATION
paula holds an Honorary PhD as an Art Work from the South London Gallery / Contemporary Art Society Fund Award (UK) and a Master’s degree in Creative Arts Therapies from Emporia State University / Fulbright Research Award (US). She also holds a BA in Social Psychology from Lisbon University. paula has participated in artist residencies at Mira Galerias (Chão Terra Pessoas project), Bauhaus Kolleg (Event City project), the Arab Image Foundation (Photobook publishing from the archives), and Frans Masereel Centrum (Memory of Stones project).
SKILLS & COMPETENCIES
-Expertise in place-based research, decolonial and hydrofeminist methodologies.
-Proficiency in artistic and computational practices, including digital and analogue photography, cameraless photographic processes, generative AI, and experimental web tools.
-Advanced skills in curatorial practice, book design and independent publishing.
=Experience in community engagement, participatory frameworks and interdisciplinary collaboration.
LANGUAGES
- Portuguese: Native;
- English: Fluent
- French: Proficient (reading and speaking)
