SHORA (Matilde Chora) is a Portuguese visual artist based in London, working at the intersection of surrealism and contemporary figurative painting. Primarily using acrylics, her practice explores identity, performativity, and the psychological consequences of growing up within systems shaped by misogyny, digital culture, and political decay. Her work combines visceral symbolism with an unsettling, cinematic atmosphere, inviting viewers to confront what lies beneath the roles we are taught to perform.

 

At the core of SHORA’s work is an interest in masks—both literal and metaphorical—and the tension between appearance and essence. Her paintings frequently depict distorted figures, fractured bodies, and staged environments that blur the boundary between inner psyche and external reality. These spaces function as psychological theatres, where innocence collides with exposure, and where the pursuit of validation, entertainment, or belonging obscures deeper questions of values, character, and selfhood. What initially appears playful, nostalgic, or familiar often reveals itself as uneasy, corrupted, or quietly violent.

 

Themes of childhood, womanhood, and adultification recur throughout her practice. SHORA interrogates how young people—particularly girls and young women—are prematurely pushed into performance, consumption, and sexualisation. Drawing on references from pop culture, cinema, and digital media, her work reflects on a generation raised by glowing screens, algorithms, and romanticised violence.

 

SHORA’s practice is deeply informed by her parallel work in human rights. Art functions for her as both resistance and testimony: a space to confront systems of oppression, question inherited narratives, and amplify experiences that are often silenced or normalised. By staging unsettling scenes that oscillate between the familiar and the grotesque, her paintings ask viewers not only to look, but to linger—to recognise their own complicity, discomfort, and vulnerability within the worlds she constructs.

 

Originally from Portugal, SHORA began her artistic journey in the absence of financial and institutional support. Raised by a single mother in a working-class household, she grew up with limited access to the resources typically required to pursue an artistic career. Like many from similar backgrounds, she initially set aside her creative ambitions to study Law, seeking stability and the means to support her family. Her move to London five years ago marked a turning point—a deliberate rupture that allowed her to re-enter art through a more diverse and politically engaged creative community.