Nu Barreto is born in 1966 in São Domingos (Guinea-Bissau). Nú Barreto has been living and working in Paris since 1989.
Graduated from the École Nationale des Métiers de l’Image des Gobelins (Paris, France), Nú Barreto has forged a language of his own and developed a multidisciplinary and political practice.
He has been immediately recognised as a talented artist and from 1998 until now he has exposed his works representing his country in Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Senegal, Switzerland, Burkina-Faso, Brazil, China. Drawing has been Nú Barreto’s favorite medium since childhood.
Nú Barreto depicts the violence that marked the African continent. According to the artist, his screaming mouth bears witness of the daily suffering of the African people as well as its collective memory. The various iconographic and plastic resources that Nú Barreto uses in his works on paper all contribute to their strong evocative and emotional power.
Despite the critical content of his work, the artist continues to have an unfailing trust in men, especially in his homo imperfect, which flaws he likes to ridicule in order for him to correct them. This virtuous power of art has inspired the artist deeply hopeful artworks.
