MOTS is an artistic duo founded by Diogo Ruas from Porto and Jagoda Cierniak from Opole. Diogo is a painter, muralist and illustrator who has been associated with graffiti and street art since 2000, while Jagoda is a photographer and coordinator of artistic and social projects, with a degree in contemporary culture from the Jagiellonian University. They've been creating together since 2017, when their first joint project, a mural in Porto, was integrated into the landscape of the old city's UNESCO World Heritage listed center. Their work spans murals, paintings and interdisciplinary projects, built around abstract forms and shapes inspired by surrealist depictions of emotion and everyday life, sometimes reacting to social issues along the way. They're known for murals in public spaces across Europe, and have created work for organizations and festivals including URBAN NATION, STRAAT Museum, Calle Libre, POW! WOW! Rotterdam (All Caps), Spacejunk and GAU. Their pieces can now be found in more than 30 cities around the world, among them Porto, Lisbon, Osaka, Strasbourg, Amsterdam, Opole, Berlin, Luxembourg, Innsbruck, Grenoble, Athens and Tirana.
