Sonia Gomes

The work only exists in function of the material that comes to me. I didn’t look for it to make a particular work. They arrive. And sometimes there’s such a responsibility to that, that the material is stored for a long time. – Sonia Gomes

Sonia Gomes weaves her work over the duration of time. The artist chooses materials that bring with them colors, textures, trims, and an indefinable set of memories. Each fabric, article of clothing, and accessory she uses has traveled its path and was dressed, stored, and altered before undergoing a final transformation in her studio.  

By combining actions such as brushing, twisting, stretching, tensioning, suspending, and wrapping, Gomes turns sewing into a kind of drawing. Her gestures produce traces and set stages of fabric handling, linking, balancing, and associating pieces in a body that, as if growing, takes shape, establishing relationships with the surrounding space.  

Gomes, born in Caetanópolis in the interior of Minas Gerais, developed her relationship with art out of a constant need to produce a wide range of textile creations despite lacking access to a circulation channel for her work. The ambition to recreate the world around her through gestures of care, starting with the intimacy of the body, clothing, and home, inscribed her practice within contemporary art.  

Sonia Gomes (b. 1948, Caetanópolis, Brazil) lives and works in São Paulo.  

The artist’s solo exhibitions include ...vivem no compasso do sol, Mendes Wood DM, Paris (2024); Sonia Gomes: sinfonia das cores, Octógono da Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo (2023); O mais profundo é a pele (Skin is the deepest part), Pace Gallery, New York (2022); Lágrima, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2021); When the sun rises in blue, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2021); I Rise – I’m a Black Ocean, Leaping and Wide, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden (2019); Sonia Gomes, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2019); Sonia Gomes & Marga Ledora, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2018); Ainda assim me levanto, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) and Casa de Vidro, São Paulo (2018); A vida renasce, sempre, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (MAC), Niterói (2018); Linhas em tramas, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2016); Nascer Uma Vez Após a Outra, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2014); Stitch In Time, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2012).  

Group exhibitions include With My Eyes, The Holy See Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2024); Resilient Currents: On Communal Re-Existence, Thanks for Nothing, Paris (2024); Dos Brasis: arte e pensamento negro, SESC Quitandinha, Petrópolis (2024) and  SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo (2023); Arte na Moda: MASP Renner, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), São Paulo (2024); Spin a Yarn, ANOTHER SPACE, New York (2024); Coreografias do impossível, 35th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2023); HARD/SOFT Textiles and Ceramics in Contemporary Art, Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna (2023);  Making Their Mark, Shah Garg Foundation, New York (2023); Mãos: 35 anos da Mão Afro-Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), São Paulo (2023); Brasil Futuro: as formas da democracia, Museu Nacional, Brasília; Espaço Cultural Casa das Onze Janelas, Belém; Museu Solar Ferrão, Salvador (2023); Sensory Poetics: Collecting Abstraction, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,New York (2022); Front 2022: Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2022); Por muito tempo acreditei ter sonhado que era livre, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo (2022); Brazil Courage Before Expectation, Flag Art Foundation, New York (2022); Contramemória, Theatro Municipal de São Paulo,São Paulo (2022); Bispo do Rosário – Eu Vim: Aparição, Impregnação e Impacto, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo (2022); Transbordar: Transgressões do Bordado, SESC Pinheiros, São Paulo (2022); Imagens que não se comportam, Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR),Rio de Janeiro (2021); Carolina Maria de Jesus: Um Brasil para os brasileiros, Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), São Paulo (2021); Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro (2021); Enciclopédia Negra, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo and Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro (2021); Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, 13th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2021); The Stomach and the Port, 11th Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool (2021); Mão Afro-Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), São Paulo (1988).

Gomes’s work is included in prominent collections such as Centre Pompidou, Paris; MoMA, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo; Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo; Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Modern, London.  