CV

João Barroqueiro Lopes was born in Lisbon in 1998. João studied, and works. João is an illustrator, João is a designer. And João reflects. João reflects on his own existence, askew, in the small details of everyday life, and examines his permanence through a magnifying glass. In search of proof of his identity, he records — with small notes of love — reflections of light, the shadows of his hands, and the hairs fallen onto the dresser. He engraves them onto warm erasers, which he stacks, worn down, in piles at the back of his desk. Seduced only by the delicacy of small details, by the trimmings left behind, he continues the excavation. He savours the repetitive movements of his arms as ink stains the paper, and stains the skin. And with an aching back and tired legs, he wipes his hands on cloths, steps away from the pieces, and lets them grow beyond their limits. And in these relics, he places the permanence he longs for.

Graphic Design / Ilustration / Printing Techinques
Lisboa, Portugal
joaoblopes2309@gmail.com

NOTES AGAINST THE FAMILY ARCHIVE

Publication / 2026

Notes Against the Family Archive is an essayistic reflection on family, photography, and the idea of home. Beginning with the discovery of a buried history of abuse after the author's grandfather's death, the book approaches the family archive as a site of silence, embedded trauma, and emotional residue.

The design mirrors the logic of the work itself — type carries the weight, while silence fills the rest. What remains reveals itself slowly: photographs dispersed across white pages, left to breathe, like fragments refusing to be filed away.

Text by Francisco Nuno Rodrigues

O Leite das Monarcas

Visual Identity / 2026

O Leite das Monarcas is a film born out of Francisco Nuno Rodrigues' Master's in Multimedia Art.

Conceived to reflect the film's fantastical and introspective world, the graphic identity spans title lettering, poster, and credit sequence. The letterforms were drawn to evoke the hallucinogenic pattern of butterfly wings — an ornamental detail that carries within it a gentle reference to the illustrated titles of classic children's stories.

The Piece of Soggy Cardboard in The Middle of The Street as a Reminder of Human Presence

Publication / 2026

The Piece Of Soggy Cardboard In The Middle Of The Street As A Reminder Of Human Presence is a book that explores the image as a trace and a form of archive. Starting from questions about the origin of the universe and of the image itself, the project reflects on the idea that every image is a survival: a residue of something that has already happened and continues to persist through reproduction. The publication establishes a parallel between three forms of archive — the universe, the body, and space. Just as the universe holds the memory of its own primordial explosion, the human body preserves traces of past forms of existence, and space accumulates marks left by human presence. Between philosophical reflection and visual construction, the book proposes thinking about identity as something in constant transformation — not a fixed origin or destination, but a set of traces that accumulate, reproduce, and persist over time.

Project created as part of the Self-Publishing course within the Postgraduate Program in Illustration and Visual Narrative at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon.

Birdwatcher

Illustration / 2026

Birdwatcher seeks to illustrate the nature of fragmented memory through abstract, non-linear visual narratives. The swaying of trees in the wind reveals wild animals inhabiting the vegetation, always present as they observe the unfolding of a relationship that moves within the tension of touches, glances, and small gestures. Only through open windows can this intimacy be fleetingly witnessed as it develops.

Project created in the context of the Postgraduate Program in Illustration and Visual Narrative at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon.

Ghost Editions

Webdesign / 2022

Design, development, and maintenance of the publisher's website, including digital archiving of its publications.

Cabra Cega

Publication / 2022

Linha was an artistic collective born from the desire to give a voice to emerging creators and artists. Two fanzines were developed, functioning as a travelling exhibition.

Linha #1, titled Cabra Cega, began its narrative around the birth and passage of a life, inspired by a traditional Portuguese nursery rhyme.
The exhibition presented within these pages reflects on the inevitable timeline of growth. The three artists merge their body of work, giving form to a whirlwind of uncertainty. What, after all, is a life made of?

The book embodies the playfulness woven through all three artists' work — a project built on intimacy, where the artists' practice and the designer's hand meet, taking creative liberties with everyday tools to serve a shared curatorial vision.

Curated by Ana Rita Felício and designed together with Daniela Laneiro