Adriana Varejão was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1964. She is at the forefront of the Brazilian art scene and has increasingly become a key player in the international market. The existing auction record for her work is $1,527,980, achieved in February 2011 at Christie’s. Her body of work captures the traces of Portuguese colonialism and the dramatic consequences of the conquest of America on indigenous people. She works across multiple mediums such as painting, sculpture, installation, and photography, being most recognised for the use of tiles and flesh. White Tilework in Live Flesh (1999) is an installation that transforms the tiled wall into injured skin from which flesh is revealed violently from the inside and Corner Jerked-Beef Ruin (2003) is an impressive sculpture of a ruined wall built with blue tiles and filled with flesh, bones and blood. Yet the beautifully decorated tiles in a Portuguese baroque style suggest that her body of work is not only referencing colonial violence but also is about the nature of dichotomies. Her work has been acquired by Tate Modern, Stedelijk Museum and the Zabludowicz Collection, among others. She currently lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.