Panmela Castro, originally a graffiti artist from Rio de Janeiro's suburbs, became interested in the dialogue her marginalized female body established with the urban environment, dedicating herself to creating performances from personal experiences in search of reciprocal affectivity with others of similar experience; works that result in videos, photographs, objects and paintings.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Retratos Relatos, SESC Centro, Curitiba, Brazil (2025); Ideias Radicais Sobre o Amor, Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2024); Do Jardim, Um Oceano, Galeria Francisco Fino, Lisbon, Portugal (2024); Retratos Relatos: subvertendo a dor, Sesc Santa Rita, Paraty, Brazil (2023); Deriva Afetiva: Dakar, Inclusartiz Institute, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2023); Retratos Relatos, Vila Cultural Cora Coralina (VCCC), Goiânia, Brazil (2022); Retratos Relatos, Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2021). Group exhibitions include: Rua, Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro (2020); Ocupação Lavra, Centro de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro (2020); Aparelho, Maus Hábitos, Porto (2019); Exposição Grau 360, Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro (2019); Palavras Somam, Museu de Arte Brasileira da FAAP, São Paulo (2019); Street Type, Caixa Cultural DF, Brasília (2018); Frestas Trienal de Artes, Sesc Sorocaba, Sorocaba (2017); Urban Nation Museum Permanent Collection, Urban Nation Museum, Berlin (2017); Das Virgens em Cardumes e da Cor das Auras, Museu Bispo Rosário Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro (2016); Synopsis of an Urban Menoir, Andrew Freedman Complex, New York, USA (2016); Vinil Vandals, C'mon Everybody, New York, USA (2016).
Collections that include her work are: Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Museu da República, Fundação Anita Mantuano de Artes do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FUNARJ), Espaço Furnas Cultural, Furnas Centrais Elétricas, in Rio de Janeiro; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, MAB FAAP, Museu de Arte Brasileira Armando Álvares Penteado, in São Paulo; The United Nations Art Collection, UN Women, Museu da Câmara dos Deputados, in Brasília; Institute of Contemporary Art MIAMI (ICA), USA; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; IDB Art Collection - Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) - Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento (BID); Urban Nation Museum, Berlin, Germany.
The artist was nominated for the Select Arte Educação Award and the Pipa Prize in 2020. She was listed in 'The Next Generation of Activists Making a Difference' by W Magazine in 2016; named 'Young Global Leader' at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2013; received the DVF Award from The Diller - Von Furstenberg Family Foundation in New York, USA; and was included in the list '150 Women That Are Shaking The World' by Newsweek Magazine in 2012.