Melbourne-based artist Thiago Bentancour was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1990, in a very artistic family. His parents are cartoon and animation makers and that was a big influence on his childhood, as well as the diverse culture of Brazil’s biggest city.

Thiago was always attracted by folklore, native Brazilian culture, fairy tales, fantasy stories, urban life, and architecture. Thiago also struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which made his life quite hard during adolescence. This plus being an LGBQTIA+ person, made him use art as a tool for surviving the hard experiences he had to face.

His art is very intuitive, and since he was a child he used to have visions inside his head of weird creatures, like beings from another universe.

Through drawings on paper, paintings, and murals, Thiago feels the urge of putting these creatures into the world, like it was his duty to manifest them on this planet. For him, they represent the transformation of his own feelings in the matter, but in a spiritual manner at the same time. These creatures not only represent his feelings but everyone’s struggles being superated in a way.