"Joana Vasconcelos is considered the most significant young Portuguese artist of recent years. Active in the fields of sculpture and installation, and a veteran oi the 1990s group of Portuguese artists, she is positioned on the borderline between different generations. She is taking part in the 51st Biennale di Venezia with one of her most representative recent works, A Noiva [The Bride], 2001. A big chandelier consisting of 14,000 tampons, adapted for the Biennale space, welcomes the visitor with its ostentation and with the slenderness of its detail.
Vasconcelos may be considered a descendant of the approaches suggested by Pedro Cabrita Reis, but she puts the accent on her works using everyday objects. ln this case they refer to a young woman and related aspects, from the most topical and typical such as fashion, fabrics, beauty and tradition, to others of a cultural and social nature. She expresses the real concerns of the artists as contemporary woman. Joana Vasconcelos also maintains the essence of Portuguese identity with a crushing modernity linked to past traditions, and a constant toing and froing between the two. The playful nature of her works and their approach to female themes bring them close to those design and fashion objects that presumably have a relationship with the new context they are conforming to.
Joana Vasconcelos has in this way recently developed into an artist for whom the aesthetic aspect of her work is as important as the communicative one, while the public and their approach to the work are also highly important. This context shows how the artist has come to participate in different site specific projects and proposals for clearly determined places and spatial contexts."

Agustín Pérez Rubio, 'ALWAYS A LITTLE FURTHER', 51.international art exhibition La biennale di Venezia, Marsilio Editori, 2005