Painter, lithographer, and assemblage artist Joao Camara Filho was born in Paraiba, Brazil in 1944. At age sixteen he enrolled at the Federal University of Pernambuco School of Fine Arts, and upon graduation helped to revive the Modern Art Society of Recife (SAMR), as well as found the art collective of the Ribera Market, Olinda; the Atelier 10; and the Guaianese Workshop on the Art Print.

He is known not only for individual works but also for his themed series that take several years to complete. For one such project, "Ten Love Affairs and a Painting," he spent the years 1976 to 1983 creating a body of work consisting of ten paintings, seventy lithographs, twenty-two assemblages and three objects. 

His work is in collections throughout Brazil and abroad. He currently lives and works in Olinda, Pernambuco.