Ana Paz is a spoken word and movement artist of African and Portuguese descent from south east London. With a background in theatre and performing arts, Ana trained at Identity Drama School as well as studying a degree in Performing Arts for Television, Film and Stage at Buckinghamshire New University, graduating in 2014. Her work includes themes such as mental health and well being, female empowerment, Blackness, racism, discrimination and the importance of perspectives within working class communities.
These narratives are brought to life by the spoken word poetry, the mechanism for therapy, often influenced by Hip Hop. Through this writing, Ana has devised three short theatre pieces: August 5th (2014), Linhas (2014), FlyButterfly (2017). This was featured and performed at venues such as The Place, Richmix, Attenborough Arts Centre, The Cookie, The Y Theatre and Canada Water Space. Overseas, Ana has featured and delivered workshops for Bankstown Poetry Slam, Australian Poetry Slam, Spoken Word Adelaide. In 2015, Ana was the runner up at the first ever Poetry Olympics held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and subsequently won an Arts residency there.
In 2017, she released her first spoken word EP titled Talking Therapy, which aired on BBC Radio Leicester introducing and Demon FM the same year. Ana’s first collection of poetry- When My Feet Find Home, was published and released in May 2019.
Her spoken word film ‘Sombre’ was showcased at The Gallery in Leicester as part of the Resilience exhibition, commissioned by Serendipity for Black History Month in 2020 which featured on BBC Midlands today and Capital FM. In 2021, Our Body Directed by Paz featured in a festival of online works for The Place asking the question ‘What Does The Future Look Like?’,as well as a content creator with hip hop theatre company Far From The Norm for their Olivier Awarded show BLKDOG.
Most recently, Ana has worked as a guest speaker and performer for a variety of organisations across Europe, including The Economist, SheDecides, Global Citizen, Swedish Institute, Women Deliver, CatCalls of NYC, Glastonbury Festival, Lets Dance International Frontiers and Breakin Convention, reinforcing the issues she addresses through her work in these performances.
Ana has recently exhibited ALMA at Skånes Konstförening in Malmo Sweden where she is currently completing a master’s in Culture and Change.
