Parra's practice is mostly cross-disciplinary, for the past fifteen years she has been working between painting, video, sculpture, writing, performance, and choreography. Her production has been increasing scale over the years, and seeking an installation dimension, towards the creation of a total environment that encouraged her to work with collaborators in other fields of creativity, such as dance, music, costume design, and cinema. What brings all those elements together is theater, her first area of activity. Before entering the visual arts, she worked for Brazilian theater director Antunes Filho as his assistant director. This experience formed a deep connection with the performing arts, especially Greek tragedy, that remains with her.
As a female artist from Brazil, where the rate of violence against women is heartbreakingly high, it is also vital for Parra to centralize a critical feminist position in her practice. Much of her work is centered on woman’s social body—as a place of affirmation and potential power. Parra's research rests at the intersection of colonialism and capitalism and their lasting injustices and historical violence toward women.
Her work has been shown at institutions such as the Jewish Museum, in New York (USA), MACBA-Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (SPA), Mana Contemporary in Chicago (USA), Americas Society in New York (US), Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (ITA), Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry (FRA), and Museu Nacional de Lisboa (POR). In 2023, Parra held a solo exhibition at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo (BRA).
She was awarded the 3M Public Art Prize (2018), the SP-Arte Prize (2017), the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation Video Prize (2011), and the Videobrasil Prize (2011).
In 2024, she was selected for the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts program in New York; in 2021, for the Monira Foundation Residency Program; and, in the previous year, for the residency program at The Watermill Center. She was also an artist-in-residence at Annex_B and Residency Unlimited, both in New York, and at Pivô in São Paulo.
Her work is featured in the collections of institutions such ast he Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) Barcelona; Museum of Art of Sao Paulo (MASP); Pinacoteca de Sao Paulo; Figueiredo Ferraz Institute; Joaquim Nabuco Foundation; Museum FAMA, VideoBrasil, among others.
