Adriana de Barros

Adriana Aleixo Pereira de Barros (born 1976) is a Portuguese and Canadian illustrator, web designer, and poet.

Since 1999, de Barros has created visual poems that combine various disciplines: writing, designing and drawing, sound editing, and filmmaking (through the use of new media, Flash software). Her visual poems have been screened at the American festivals Flashbang! and Flashbang 4 (2001 and 2002), The. ME.Project. (2002; showcased in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles). Her work has appeared in art/poetry books and websites. De Barros has been recognized for "trying to make poetry more dynamic and accessible." Her creations exist, as she states, "so that even someone who may dislike poetry can enjoy it visually." As a child she was interested in sports, and only when she was twelve did she realize her interest in drawing. At age fifteen, her family decided to move back to her birthplace, where de Barros faced cultural challenges with her education and lifestyle.

In high school she studied art and design, ultimately deciding to pursue cinema in college. Upset with the lack of sophistication within the film schools and film industry in Portugal, she believed that Toronto "would have been a better location to pursue cinema than in Portugal." She wishes to one day have the opportunity to study filmmaking in North America. Out of high school, she began working temporarily for her family's clothing business. The experience led to a full-time job as a fashion and advertising designer for the company, as well as co-running a copy center with design section.

In 1999, de Barros began web design and programming. She mentions finding her place online by "combining various art forms into each project".

De Barros is self taught. Today, she still runs her copy center, as she designs in her studio. She is principal and creative director of Breathewords.com. Her work encompasses various media from hand-painted illustrative magazine covers to e-commerce and wacky Flash sites for poets (e.g. HotEmuluv).

Works

Visual poetry De Barros' interactive narratives and poems have been showcased at design and Flash festivals, and screened on the Internet on places like poemsthatgo, K10k, and online art gallery Lumen Eclipse.

Illustration style and technique Her practice "revolves around issues of daily life, human psychology analysis and colour, and imaginary and surrealist envisionment." She enjoys painting portraits of people with distinguishing facial expressions. Motifs present in her artwork include hands, angel wings, butterflies, and animals.

De Barros' prominent style "intentionally leaves portions of her pieces unfinished or with imperfections." STEP Inside Design (Issue May/June 2004, USA). She won a Portuguese Multimedia II Award (2005), two SXSW Web Awards nominations (2003 and 2004) a nomination in the 17th Stuttgart Filmwinter New Media Award (2004)." American Institute of Graphic Arts's (AIGA, Cincinnati) has noted her work with a Top Design Site Award, MSN.com with a Site of the Week and Yahoo! a New and Notable mention.

De Barros is also involved in the design industry, having led a speaker/workshop session about the behind-the-scenes work on her visual poems and films at the convention held in Valencia, Spain. She has continued to do lectures about web design at universities in Portugal.

Interviews Poetry from Portugal - H2O Magazine