Cynthia Back was born in St Louis, Missouri, United States and currently lives in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. Cynthia obtained a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a post-graduate certificate from St Martin’s School of Art in London, England. Cynthia has exhibited widely in the USA and internationally. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including grants from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; Residencies and fellowships to Galleri Heike Arndt, Kettinge, Denmark, The Artists Centre Dale, Norway, The Women’s Studio Workshop, Blue Mountain Center, Acadia National Park, The Studios at Key West, in the United States, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation Ltd, Ireland, Fundacion Valparaiso, Spain, The Cill Rialaig Project, Ireland, Helene Wurlitzer Foundation and MacDowell Colony in the United States. His work is included in private and corporate collections, including The Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, The Newark Public Library, The Free Library of Philadelphia, The New-York Historical Society and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre.