I’m Lara, an artist that likes to explore identity within my practice. Growing up in rural Portugal, my earlier practice was heavily influenced by majolica pottery and ‘azulejos’, traditional Iberian tiles. This paired with my love for graphic novels and manga has resulted in a narrative-driven multidisciplinary practice, where I tend to favour drawing, painting and ceramics. I view my practice as escapism from the mundane every day, using these characters as a way to reshape and redesign said monotonous reality. Not in a stoic way, but more of an I treat my life like The Sims (where I've downloaded some fun custom content and hope it doesn't crash my computer) kind of way. I enjoy exploring themes of identity, youth culture and femininity through my practice. The characters within my pieces are reflections of smaller aspects of my personal experience, or of people who have influenced me.