Matilde Chora (SHORA) is a Portuguese visual artist based in London, whose practice moves between surrealism, contemporary figuration and social critique. Raised by a single mother in a working-class household, her path into art was shaped by limited access to creative opportunities. She initially pursued Law in search of financial stability before reclaiming her artistic ambitions within London's diverse and politically engaged creative landscape.

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Working primarily in acrylic, Matilde explores the absurdities and contradictions of contemporary existence, tracing the psychological tensions of a generation coming of age amidst misogyny, digital saturation and social fragmentation. Her work inhabits the uneasy space between appearance and essence, innocence and corruption, desire and disillusionment. Through distorted figures, theatrical compositions and surreal imagery, she constructs worlds where the familiar becomes unsettling and the seemingly playful conceals something darker.

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Childhood, womanhood and the premature loss of innocence recur throughout her practice, alongside broader questions of identity, power and belonging. Drawing from popular culture, digital iconography and collective anxieties, her paintings examine the ways individuals are shaped, consumed and performed within contemporary society. Rather than offering definitive narratives, her work invites viewers to confront the contradictions and uncomfortable truths concealed beneath the surface of everyday life.

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Alongside her artistic practice, Matilde works in the human rights sector, supporting young people affected by exploitation and violence. This proximity to experiences of vulnerability and systemic injustice informs her artistic inquiry into the boundaries between agency and control, innocence and complicity, and the forms of violence society learns to accept as ordinary.