© Janeth Tavares
Practice
Carlota Matos (she/her) is a theatre and performance artist from Porto, Portugal, working internationally with a focus on social change. Her practice explores questions of identity, migration, memory and mental ill-health through participatory, documentary and interdisciplinary forms.
Rooted in artistic research and long-term collaboration, her projects often emerge from encounters with communities, charities, artists from different disciplines, and people who are not necessarily trained or experienced performers. Through processes of co-creation and participation, she creates spaces for dialogue, collective imagination and critical reflection, bridging the personal and the political.
She is particularly interested in access, participation, systems of care and representation in the arts, especially in relation to migrant and disabled communities.
Current Work
Recent projects include TASTE, a performative celebration of food, culture and community created with migrant women in Bristol; POUR UNE VIE MEILLEURE, an artistic research project exploring migration, memory and intergenerational transmission through family testimonies and verbatim performance; and Um Passado Presente, a collaboration with her mother and rapper MoYah exploring the personal and political legacies of Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique.
Consultancy & Access
Alongside her artistic practice, Carlota works internationally as a consultant in creative access and the ethics of participatory arts, supporting organisations to develop more inclusive and ethically grounded projects.
Selected Experience
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Co-founder & Coordinator – Refugee Week Portugal [2025-present]
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TalentLAB Festival – Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg [2024]
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Arts Council England – Project Grants [2023-24]
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Future Laboratory – international research residency programme [2022-25]
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Arts Council England – Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) [2022–23]
Her work has also been supported by Counterpoints, Projekt Europa and O Rumo do Fumo, and she has presented and shared her practice and research with universities, arts organisations and cultural institutions across Europe.