Artist statement
My name is Rita Pinheiro, I am an actress, singer, creator, I love to write, and I believe in the power of ART to transform the world. My artwork reflects my position as an artist, activist, woman, and my desire to work with the real, the now, and on what is urgent. I talk about my concerns and those of many. I am an activist and a volunteer, and somehow, I use my work to express myself.
My last project, the monologue “Camaleoa”, the first fruit of my total creation, writing and interpretation, was about sex work in Portugal. The precarious situation, the stigma and prejudice that these workers suffer and what can be done so that these workers stop living on the margins of society.
The idea and my goals: this project is part of a research process on the universe of sex workers, the structural violence to which they are subjected and the way in which this violence contributes to their invisibility and marginalization. After interviewing several sex workers, the writing of the scene was developed from the material collected and relevant bibliography, which resulted in the creation of a performance entitled “Camaleoa”, presented on September 19, 2021, at the Helena Sá e Costa Theater (Porto).
The reason I chose this topic is essentially due to my particular interest in minorities. My activist “vein” extends to many causes, but after researching the spectrum of violence and having come a long way during the first year of my Masters, I became interested in those who live on the sidelines. After having found this universe, I felt that somehow it was a natural choice. The decision to work on this topic arose, in fact, for numerous factors. Over the years, the sex taboo, and the curiosity of those who work with sex have given rise to many reflections. I especially remember the case of Gisberta’s death, which took place in Portugal in 2006 and shocked me at the time and also the recognizing of fact that it’s a very old profession, in which workers have no rights or protections. Many professionals are under penalty of pimping, there are minors performing this work, human trafficking for these purposes, but there is no protection because sex work is discriminated against. In other words, the services that professionals provide are real, they are services in high demand, but society denies their existence. They are the so-called invisible workers to whom I intended to give a voice and a face. I wanted to be able to expose the structural violence they are targeted and demonstrate that this violence is often not caused by single individuals. Aware that sex workers are not the marginals but live on the sidelines and are marginalized by society, one of my ambitions was to develop an artistic project that addressed this entire universe.
Personally, I feel that we live quite alienated from what is happening around us and I have always had the ambition to use my artistic work to reflect on our role and the place we occupy in society. I see theater as a transforming element and I believe in its strength, so I challenged myself as an artist and, throughout the process, I asked myself what my contribution could be so that sex workers could have a more dignified life.
Rita Pinheiro, born in Porto, started in the art world at Balleteatro in 2000. Throughout her career, she had as teachers and trainers Bruno Schiappa, Cláudia Marisa, Diana Castle, Lígia Roque, Janaina Leite, José Wallenstein, Marcia Haufrecht, Margarida Gonçalves, Nuno Nunes, Nuno Pino Custódio, Moncho Rodrigues, Roberto Merino, Patrícia Vasconcelos, Teresa Brayshaw, among others.
Since her debut, she has participated in numerous performances, including the “Xarxa 25”, by La Fura del Baus, at the Imaginarius festival and the play “The Last Days of Humanity”, directed by Nuno Carinhas and Nuno M. Cardoso.
In cinema, she participated in several projects, namely “A imitação” by Saguenail; “2000 Pés” by Bruno Nacarato and André Sanjurio; “Porto” by Gabe Klinger’s; “Aquarium” by Joana Correia Pinto; “Zoom in” by José Pedro Lopes, and “13H” by José Paulo Santos.
She began her dubbing and voice over journey with “Alvim and the Chipmunks: the Great Adventure”. Since 2013, she has been part of several musical projects as a singer, with special emphasis on the Rita Light project.
In 2018, she co-created the play “Dedos Curiosos”, dedicated to children, with which she has been on tour ever since.
In 2019, she made her debut as a screenwriter with the film “13H”, which is currently in post-production, and “Ciclo”, which will soon enter production phase.
In 2021, she wrote, staged, and performed the monologue “Camaleoa”, an original performance resulting from a long research process, presented for the first time at the Helena Sá e Costa Theater (Porto).
Master in Performing Arts, Interpretation and Artistic Direction by ESMAE, unfolds between the work of artist, creator, singer and teacher.