Selkie, also known as Madam Selkie (real name Thais Portilho), is a Brazilian-British art collector and curator working in digital art.,Following a 22-year career in journalism and public relations, including work as a publicist for museums and galleries in the early 2000s, she entered the digital art scene in 2022.
Portilho has curated an exhibition on SuperRare and drops on Nifty Gateway.,In 2023 Nifty Gateway revoked publisher privileges for a group of curators, including Selkie, who had collected more than 100 pieces through its drops. She said the policy would “hurt new and rising artists by placing a blanket ban based solely on the volume of sales”.On SuperRare she guest-curated the exhibition “Carnevale” alongside SuperRare, pairing emerging Brazilian artists Marcelo Terça-Nada, Fenelon and Darkness Creature with established artists including Hugo Faz, Barbara Carvalho, Beissú, Tchaggo and Ottis Ots. In 2024 she founded the Rio Art Residency, an initiative to invest in and elevate emerging artists and digital art.She is also the founder and director of Hash Gallery, which works to bridge traditional art institutions and digital art through systems-based and generative practices.,
