Bela Silva was born in Lisbon, Portugal and studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Lisbon and Porto, Portugal, as well as at ArCo, Lisbon, Norwich Fine Arts in the UK, and The Art Institute of Chicago in the United States. She currently splits her time between Lisbon and Brussels. She has exhibited at Ann Nathan Gallery and Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, at Lisbon’s Museu do Azulejo (Tile Museum), Museu Anastácio Gonçalves, Palácio da Ajuda and Fundação Ricardo Espírito Santo, as well as in various exhibitions in China and in Japan. She has participated in group shows in Belgium (Kleureyck, Designmuseum Gent, Lille 3000), Brazil, Spain, France (Biennale de Vallauris), and has run ceramics workshops in Japan and Morocco. She has been awarded residencies at Kohler, Wisconsin, USA, and at Fabrica Bordalo Pinheiro, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. She has created several pieces of public art, including painted murals on tile for Lisbon’s Alvalade subway station, and ceramic panels for Japan’s Sakai Cultural Centre gardens and the João de Deus School in the Azores Islands. She created 12 large fantastical pieces in 2017 for the gardens of the Fine Arts museum, while exhibiting her work that same year at the Museum of the Orient in Lisbon. Spazio Nobile has represented Bela Silva since 2017 and has dedicated her several exhibitions at the gallery and at international fairs worldwide, including the solo show Despierta Corazón Dormido in 2020 coupled with the release of her artist book, Codex Mexico. In 2021, Spazio Nobile launched three jewelry collections with the artist: “Mon Amour, Mexico”, “Petalouda” with high-end Berlin-based fashion brand Rianna + Nina and “Four Seasons”, wall sculpture jewelry to hang on the wall as ‘ex-votos’. She is part with Spazio Nobile of Next of Europe, a selection of European “Living Treasures” curated by Jean Blanchaert & Stefano Boeri at Homo Faber, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy in spring 2022. The gallery inaugurated a showcase with Bela Silva in Le Sablon Art District, in front of Les Minimes Baroque Church, which is open twice a year during B.A.S. (Brussels Art Square) in Brussels, in March and September.
