Maria Giovanna Mura is an Italian illustrator based in Lisbon, Portugal. Born in Sassari, Italy, in 1988, her creative practice is shaped by studies that revolve around architecture, illustration, and theater. This multidisciplinary background gives her illustrations a distinctive spatial awareness, a sense of narrative staging, and a performative quality that invites the viewer into the scene.
Her work is influenced by memories and everyday life, particularly those moments full of surprises and misunderstandings. She finds inspiration in the small, often overlooked details of daily existence. Her illustrations are characterized by a playful lightness and a gentle humor, always seeking to establish a dialogue with the viewer.
Mura's artistic voice is one of observation and curiosity. Her architectural training gives her compositions a strong sense of structure and space, while her background in theater lends a narrative, almost cinematic quality to her scenes. She works primarily with graphite and digital colouring, blending traditional drawing techniques with contemporary digital tools.
She pursued her formal education in illustration through the Postgraduate Course in Illustration at the School of Arts of the Autonomous University of Lisbon. During her studies, she participated in several collective exhibitions that marked important milestones in her development as an artist.
In 2024, she participated in "Atlas Interior" at Trius in Alfama, Lisbon, and in 2025, she was part of "Aos Papéis" at Livraria Baobá, both collective exhibitions featuring work from her postgraduate course. Her career reached a significant milestone in 2026 when she was named a finalist for the Illustrators Exhibition at the prestigious Bologna Children's Book Fair. She has also been a participant in other international competitions, including The Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition.
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