Joana Taya was born in the Angolan province of Benguela. She holds a master’s degree in Graphic Communication from the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey and Kent, UK. Currently based in Stavanger, she works as a graphic designer, illustrator, and Lecturer in Graphic Design at Noroff University College’s site in Stavanger, Norway. As a graphic designer, she co-owns the design agency, Unlearn-grafics. Taya is preoccupied with female identity, particularly the social position of women within Angolan society.

Working across diverse media including painting, collage, computer design, photography, and animation, she has exhibited works in group and solo presentations in Angola, Norway, China, Czech Republic, and Germany. Her practice also extends to curatorial projects, for two consecutive years, she curated the group exhibitions of the third and fourth editions of the JAANGO National residency programme in Luanda. This year, her work was exhibited at Tamar Golan Gallery in Luanda, in a solo exhibition entitled Endangered Beauty.