Beatriz Simas
Artist and student
The First Supper
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The First Supper is Simas’ recreation of The First Supper 1995, a family photograph taken by the artist's mother, nearly thirty years prior. Stricken by the photograph's quasi-religious composition, the artist places herself in the shoes of her family, and subsumes herself in costume, including wigs, clothes, jewellery and makeup in order to enter the internal psyche of those she portrays. This piece serves as an introspective look at the immigrant experience, reflecting on cultural dilution over times and differences between being a first generation Canadian versus recent Portuguese Brazilian Immigrants.
Artist bio
Beatriz Simas, b. 2003, is an artist and student based in Toronto, Canada. Simas is currently a graduate student in the Master of Art History program the University of Toronto. Simas has also received her Honours Bachelor of Art in Art History from the University of Toronto, and an Advanced Diploma in Art and Art History from Sheridan College, in 2025.
Simas is an artist who, through the medium of photography as well as the contextualization of art history, explores notions of identity, cultural connections, and belonging. Through the performance of self-portraiture, Simas explores notions of individuality and different personalities through the careful curation of clothing, wigs, makeup, and props. By using herself as a living canvas, she embodies given characters – either larger than life archetypes or small, intimate and personal realities – in order to explore cultural contexts and dismantle traditional ways of viewing. A driving question in her practice is: What does it mean to be a first generation Canadian with a strong cultural background, within a visual realm? Through a theatrical/character-based photographic practice, she thoroughly analyzes and creates fully realized characters, undergoing a physical transformation, caught on camera.
