ON: Smile! You’re on camera
Maria Peixoto Martins
200+ surveillance cameras
90+ locations
A project developed entirely through the web, where photographs are captured from online surveillance cameras spread across the world and sounds are extracted from digital sources. Like an orchestra, I gather all these elements, allowing the sound to guide the viewer on a journey through diverse images, where they begin to form relationships with one another. These are real moments and real people, often unaware that they are crossing the screens of thousands. A space where I, you, and so many others have already been, are now, and inevitably will be.
In 2014, she began studies in Cinema, Video and Multimedia Communication, and in 2018 she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Photography at Universidade Lusófona. In 2023, she enrolled in a Master’s degree in Communication and Multimedia at IADE, which she completed the following year.
In her artistic practice, she primarily explores photography, video and installation. Her work focuses mainly on social issues, often using humor, with the human body occupying a prominent place. Questions of surveillance, representation and self-representation are central to her projects. She investigates the deconstruction and limits of the digital image, such as pixelation and chromatic aberrations.
Since 2022, she has held solo exhibitions including ON: Smile! You’re on camera, Livraria Zé dos Bois, Lisbon (2026); Eyes on You, Centro de Artes e Cultura de Ponte de Sor (2024); and The King of the Rood, as part of Segundas na Z, Zé dos Bois, Lisbon (2024). She has also participated in group exhibitions since 2017, such as Imagination – Tools to Think About the Future, organized by Lisbon Art Weekend at Mono, Lisbon (2025), and Random, Azan Contemporary Art, Lisbon (2024).
She took part in the Serra do Açor Artistic Residency under the mentorship of photographer Jem Southam, as well as the Inter.meada artistic residency in Alvito. She was a finalist at the 2022 Vila Franca de Xira Photography Biennial and received the Duplacena Incentive Award at the FUSO – Video Art Festival in 2023.