Ângela Ferreira was born in Maputo, formerly Lourenço Marques, in Portuguese Mozambique in 1958 and lived and studied in Cape Town during the apartheid era.

Her creative work has been largely focused on exploring intercultural and identity relations between the West and Africa, reflecting the consequences of colonialism and post-colonialism in contemporary society.

Her project consisted of photographic documentation and a sculpture made from her investigation of three Tropical Houses by French architect Jean Prouvé (1901-1984), which were built in the cities of Niamey in Niger and Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo between 1949 and 1951 and removed in 2001.

Ferreira also contributed to Biennials in Istanbul (1999), São Paulo (2008) and Bucharest (2010) and has exhibited widely in Portugal, as well as in Finland, France, Mexico, South Africa and the US.

Among her public installations have been contributions to the Frieze Sculpture Park in London in 2008, and exhibitions in Graz, Austria and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.