VALERIA DUCA

Valeria Duca (b. 1995, Moldova) started her career at the age of 12, opening her first exhibition in her hometown Chisinau. Valeria’s works have evolved over the course of her career, from expressive abstract painting towards figurative realism. Not a student of an academy or part of an atelier, her realism is riddled with symbolism in an attempt to create visual metaphors. A narrative depicting, if not a descent into madness, then at least a blurring of the edges of normality, at times flirting with the surreal. Her art captures moment of our contemporary world and evokes relatable states. She explores the way in which colour and form connects to the viewer and creates sentiment.

The artist moved to UK when she was 17, where she studied Art History at the University of St. Andrews. She now lives and works as a painter in Oslo, Norway.

Her participation at Venice Biennale in 2011 marked Moldova’s debut on the international art scene. Multiple museums from Eastern Europe have eagerly collected her works from the very beginning. Valeria’s paintings can be found in the public collections of the Museum of History and Archeology in Moldova, the Museum of Visual Art in Galati, Romania, the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine, the Museum of the Village, Bucharest, Romania and the Folk Museum, the Palace of Parliament, Bucharest, Romania.

In February of 2025, UNHCR Moldova and the National Museum of Moldova marked the third year invasion of Ukraine with the exhibition «ECOURI» by Valeria Duca. The exhibition offered a space to reflect on the current situation of refugees in the country and around the world through paintings audio stories and interactive installations to honor the power of those affected by war.