André Cepeda was born in Coimbra, Portugal in 1976. Cepeda’s work engages with contemporary social landscapes, especially that of Porto, Portugal, where he lives and works.
Cepeda looks for “spaces and moments that have been forgotten or rejected” in order to facilitate a broader understanding the way in which we build personal as well as political realities. His work makes extensive use of light and color as well as perspective and composition in order to bring out suppressed or tangential meaning in familiar objects or situations. His work often involves the interplay between intentional aesthetic patterning and the chance designs of decay or accumulation.
Cepeda is the recipient of numerous residencies and grants, including the 2012 artist in residence at the FAAP, São Paulo and a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholorship. Cepeda was shortlisted for the Paul Huf Award, Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam (2011); Prémio BESPhoto, Lisbon (2010); and the EDP Foundation New Artists Prize, Lisbon (2007), among other prizes. He has exhibited his work in galleries, museums and art institutions across the globe, including the Museo de Arte Contemporánea in Spain, Haus der Photographie, in Germany, The Mews in England, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, and Museu de Arte de São Paulo in Brazil, and Serralves Contemporary Art Museum, Porto, Portugal, among many others. His work is represented in multiple public and private collections.