José S. Teixeira (b. 1960) was born in Angola. In the 1980s he held his first solo sculpture exhibition in Lisbon. In the mid-1990s he dedicated himself to medals and became a member of FIDEM and since then he has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions. Since 2004 he has collaborated with Portugal’s Casa da Moeda, designing several coins now in circulation in the Eurozone. Teixeira holds an honours degree in fine arts (sculpture), a master’s degree in theories of art completed in 2002, and a PhD in public sculpture completed in 2009. He has been a professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon since 1998, teaching and lecturing bachelors, masters and PhD students. He currently also coordinates a PhD programme in sculpture. Alongside his teaching and artistic activities, he has worked as an essayist in the fields of sculpture and medals.

About his BAMS medal the artist writes: ‘Increasing technological and industrial development has led to a rapid waste of natural resources that jeopardize sustainability. The pressure that human societies have been exerting on the planet has contributed to the extinction of numerous species, leading to biodiversity loss. In a world where resources are scarce and species are disappearing at an accelerated pace, it is inevitable to question the future that we will bequeath to the next generations. What will it be like to live in a world where a good part of the species, namely large mammals such as whales, are nothing more than museum curiosities preserved by taxi dermists?’ O