WHO I AM
Sculptor and actress. She works fired porcelain and iron to explore how touch is inscribed in the body. Madrid, 2004.
María Bernardeau (Spain, 2004) studies Fine Arts with a diploma in Fashion at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria and has extended her training at the Escuela SUR of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, as well as through several specialised art courses. In parallel, she studies acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and works professionally as an actress, developing her practice in both the visual and the performing arts.
Her research focuses on the body as a space of memory, approaching physical contact as a primary language within human interactions. Through sculpture in iron and porcelain, she studies how tactile experiences are inscribed in the body and shape identity. Acting runs through her visual work, as both share the same attention to gesture, presence and bodily awareness; the movement and activation of the body on stage find continuity in the sculptural form, where matter records tension, trace and action.
For a period she worked as a studio assistant to the Italian artist Mario Arlati, collaborating in the production of work in his studio during the Venice Biennale alongside Contini Art Gallery, taking part in the development and preparation of the collection.
In 2025 she held her first solo exhibition, Donde rozan los recuerdos, at Abstrata Gallery (Madrid). That same year she took part in "La Nueva Generación", an exhibition organised by the Tres Cantos City Council bringing together emerging artists selected by the institution. Between December 2025 and January 2026 she took part in the group show "Poéticas del invierno" at ARMA Gallery, an exhibition that turns ordinary spaces into symbolic, warm territories, understanding inhabiting as a construction of memory and shared gesture, alongside artists such as Elena Gual and Papartus. In May 2026 she exhibited in "Semillero", in the Sala Juana Mordó of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, with the students of the Escuela SUR Foundation Course.
She continues to develop her work in fired porcelain and iron, which remain the axis of her interest and the centre of her artistic research.
STATEMENT
Her sculptural practice explores the body as a space where experiences and memories are inscribed. Touch and physical contact appear as primary forms of relationship that leave traces on identity.
Her process begins with reflection and writing about experiences linked to the skin and to the caress, later carrying that thought into the material plane.
She works with porcelain and iron as the means to give these ideas a body. With tinted, glazed and fired porcelain she creates surfaces that evoke the skin (folds, furrows and tensions) where the trace of the gesture is recorded, while iron introduces a rigid structure that contrasts with its fragility.
Through these materials, the sculptures give shape to these physical sensations.
EXHIBITIONS
- 2026SemilleroSala Juana Mordó, Círculo de Bellas Artes, MadridGroup show of the Escuela SUR Foundation Course. May
- 2025–26Poéticas del inviernoARMA Gallery, MadridGroup show, with Elena Gual, Papartus, Luis Olaso, Rob Woodcox and others. December to January
- 2025La Nueva GeneraciónTres Cantos City CouncilGroup show of emerging artists selected by the institution
- 2025Donde rozan los recuerdosAbstrata Gallery, MadridFirst solo exhibition. 29 and 30 May
PROJECTS
- 2024Arte en el BarrioCommunity art project with children
- 2022Documentary on human traffickingProduction. Sonrisas de Bombay
TRAINING
- Fine Arts, with a diploma in FashionUniversidad Francisco de Vitoria
- Foundation Course in Arts and Artistic Professions, 2025–2026Escuela SUR, Círculo de Bellas Artes
- Specialised porcelain courseMaria Torné
- Intensive course "Women: citizenship and social control. Devices of gender control and repression as State policy"Mónica Puertas, Aularte
- Contemporary history, one-year courseOngoingAularte
- Las Cuentistas writing groupOngoing
- Intensive neuroscience course "The brain as an ally"OngoingNazareth Castellanos
- Illustration courseOngoing
- Studio assistant to Mario ArlatiVenice Biennale, with Contini Art Gallery
ACTING TRAINING
- Improvisation courseEscuela Delan
- Acting in EnglishLAMDA, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
- School of gestureLecoq
- On-camera courseCristina Alcázar
- Voice courseLeticia Santa Fe
- Intensive courseTimbre 4
- Intensive courseLa Fábrica x Descalzinha
- Term courseRaquel Pérez
- Regular courseMesina
ON SCREEN
- 2025Física o química: La nueva generaciónAtresplayer. Carlota
- 2022HITTVE. Alba
- 2017–2023Cuéntame cómo pasóTVE. Mercedes, as a young woman
SHORT FILMS
- Los Ojos de Giovannadirected by Javier Prieto and Lucía Merino Vázquez
- Los Contornosdirected by Javier Espárrago
- Nota de Cortedirected by Héctor Fernández Cachón
- La F(r)acturadirected by César Ríos
What I like most is sculpture and the visual arts.