Laís Amaral (1993) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She considers herself an artist-craftswoman, is co-founder of the Trovoa movement, and holds a degree in Social Work from Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). At UFF, she began her research on the effects of environmental collapse in the contemporary world, comparing the contexts of environmental desertification with the whitening project of the population, nature, and life organization in their subjective and spiritual dimensions. Amaral challenges the boundaries between art and craft, using unconventional tools such as manicure instruments and combs to question traditional notions of Western abstraction. Her paintings function as visual narratives, employing techniques such as layering and scraping black paint over colorful compositions to reveal hidden stories—akin to an archaeological excavation.

Her recent solo exhibitions include O que acontece na beira do mar? (Mendes Wood DM, New York, 2024); Entre dormir e acordar (Bela Maré, Rio de Janeiro, 2024); Estude Fundo (Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, 2023); Cimento e Água (M+B Almont, Los Angeles, 2022); and her first solo exhibition Vazante at Fundação de Arte de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro (2018). She has also participated in group shows at MAM Rio (2025), MAM São Paulo (2024), Sesc Pinheiros (São Paulo, 2024), d’Ouwe Kerke (Retranchement, 2023), Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro (2022), Mendes Wood DM (Brussels, 2022), Instituto Tomie Ohtake (São Paulo, 2021), and Solar dos Abacaxis (Rio de Janeiro, 2019).

Untitled (2025) stems from the artist’s interest in reducing the colonial distances and separations imposed between being and nature. It is part of the series Naturezas Radicais IV, in which the works are like paintings of biomass, a kind of zoom into what happens within the organic matter that constitutes forests, soil, roots, water, and beyond.