Joana has painted throughout her life, formally studying Art Foundations at Kingston University, UK, before going on to build Gif Design Studios — an award-winning Graphic Design agency based in Porto. For over a decade, she worked as a creative director, developing a sharp sensitivity to composition, colour, and the underlying structure that shapes how we see.

Her return to painting came at a moment of industry shift, as artificial intelligence began to automate much of the creative craft she had spent years refining. What began as a return to the canvas became a commitment to process — to material, gesture, and the irreversibility of a mark made by hand.

Working primarily with acrylic, her paintings explore the tension between control and release.  The work exists somewhere between abstraction and suggestion, where composition feels intentional.

Joana works from Porto, Portugal. She continues to run her agency, Gif Design Studios, alongside her art practice.

Joana Galvão

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