Janina McQuoid (1989) creates sculptures through vernacular and intuitive techniques using varied materials—which she alternately paints, sews, or combines—forming autobiographical, everyday vignettes, which are drawn from an imagined passionate, intimate, triumphant, or inglorious narrative.

With a fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008–12), she continued her studies at Escola Entrópica (Instituto Tomie Ohtake, 2014–16), at the MASP Independent Project, PIMASP (2016–17), and completed one year of a master’s at Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel (2021, Switzerland).

Her solo exhibitions include Um sorriso é uma espada, BFA Boatos (2015); Miruca, BFA Boatos (2016); Mais uma e você está Ciao Ciao Bambina, Galeria Pilar (2018); and Rapsódia do Côco, Projeto Vênus (2021). She has participated in international group shows at FB Gallery (New York, 2012) and Abrazo Interno Gallery (CSV Center, New York, 2014), and in Brazilian shows such as Tão diferentes, tão atraentes, Carbono; Obscura Luz, Luisa Strina; III Concurso Itamaraty de Arte Contemporânea, Palácio Itamaraty, Brasília; Convocatória para um Mobiliário Brasileiro, MASP (2016); Ai-5 50 Anos – Ainda não terminou de acabar, Instituto Tomie Ohtake (2018); and Biblioteca: Floresta, Sesc Belenzinho (2021). She was an artist-in-residence at Pivô (Pivô Arte e Pesquisa, 2018) and participated in art fairs in São Paulo (SP-Arte), Milan (MiArt), and Basel (June). Her work is part of the collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Palácio Itamaraty.

Self-portrait: artist, mother (2025) is an allegorical representation composed of an improvised and visceral tricycle mounted atop a pile of paint tubes, forming a small hill, in a modest triumph. In regards to her inspiration, the artist mentions her reflections on the many forms of overcoming present childhood and parenthood. In technical terms, she is drawn to papier-mâché for its porosity and its balance between colloquial and scholarly qualities—an ancient, but also widely disseminated technique. The ambivalent color suggests both bronze and grease.