Image: Underdogs Gallery, Lisboa
Lisbon-based artist Ana Malta will turn Underdogs Gallery into a working studio this autumn for 'Troca o Passo', a project combining a new edition, an open-ended residency and a subsequent exhibition. The residency is scheduled to run from 4 September to 8 October 2026, with the resulting exhibition on view at the gallery from 9 to 24 October.
The project will begin with the release of a new Ana Malta edition on 2 September. Two days later, the artist will begin working at Underdogs Gallery, where visitors will be able to encounter her creative process as it develops. According to the gallery’s announcement, the residency has no predetermined theme or final outcome. Malta has instead been invited to experiment, follow new ideas and allow the work itself to determine the direction of the project.
The works produced during the residency will be brought together for the October exhibition. Underdogs describes the presentation as a tracing of the month-long experience, preserving the connection between the works and the process through which they were made. The gallery’s project text says Malta will begin with a series of initial thoughts, while leaving the final result open.
Malta’s practice moves between painting, drawing and installation. The gallery characterises her work as rooted in everyday life, memory, materials and gestures, with a visual language that remains in constant evolution. Her broader practice explores colour, pattern, composition and drawing materials as vehicles for an intuitive and unconscious visual language, while experimentation and transformation play a central role.
Born in Lisbon in 1996, Malta studied Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon and holds a master’s degree in Creative Industries Management from Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto. She is a member of the artistic collective VÊS.TRÊS. Her distinctions include the José Mendonça Prize for Visual Arts in 2023, recognition as a Breakthrough Artist at ArtMadrid in 2024 and the MEXTO Property Investment Acquisition Prize at ARCOlisboa in 2025. She is also listed as a finalist for the Sovereign Portuguese Art Prize 2025. Her work has been presented at fairs including ARCOlisboa, Art Madrid, Art Paris and the Hamptons Art Fair, and she has held solo exhibitions in Lisbon, Madrid and Taiwan.
Underdogs, established in 2010 and consolidated in its present form in 2013, is a Lisbon cultural platform encompassing a gallery, a public art programme, artist editions and commissioned projects. It works with Portuguese and international artists connected with an urban-inspired contemporary art context, with the stated aim of fostering relationships between creators, the public and the city. 'Troca o Passo' will take place at its gallery at Rua Fernando Palha, Armazém 56, 1950-132 Lisbon. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 2pm to 7pm.
