Born in Funchal, Madeira Island, in 1930, Castro attended the School of Fine Arts, Lisbon, where she studied painting, before moving to Paris in 1958. From the outset of her career, she has worked with found objects, which she represents through light and its positive and negative.
Recent exhibitions include: Museu Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto (2010); Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), Lisbon (2001); Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (1992). She represented Portugal in the 1998 São Paulo Biennale.