Priscilla Rocha

Priscilla Rocha’s work explores memory, belonging, and shared experience through painting and printmaking. Using intaglio inks, oil-based inks, and oil paint on acrylic panels, she embraces the fluidity of image transfer, where the press both preserves and alters the original mark. This approach foregrounds the impermanence of memory while celebrating the intimacy of lived experience.

Working from vintage photographs, family archives, and live observation, Rocha positions her practice as a form of real-time archiving. She documents interpersonal moments, gatherings, and cultural spaces that embody collective humanity. By elevating everyday objects and gestures into subjects of stillness and reflection, her work resists isolation and affirms the irreplaceable nature of each shared moment.

Rocha is a Brazilian-American painter and architectural designer. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Arts Management (Studio Art) from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. Before earning a Master of Architecture, she spent years immersed in the arts community of southern Indiana, painting murals, facilitating events, and directing Blueline Gallery in downtown Bloomington.

One of her earliest memories is of her great-grandfather’s painting studio in Cruzeiro, São Paulo, Brazil. She recalls the paint-splattered surfaces that filled his space. His murals and signs remain scattered throughout the city, a testament to a life built through art. As a first-generation immigrant, Rocha developed an early sense of wonder that continues to guide her practice.

She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and their two dogs, Salvador and Frida.