SONIA GOMES

Early Years

Sonia Gomes was born in 1948 in Caetanópolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil, a town renowned as the birthplace of the Brazilian textile industry. Raised by a Black mother and white father, Gomes’s early fascination with fabric and craft was nurtured by her maternal grandmother, whose rituals and handmade objects left a lasting impression on her. Before turning to art, Gomes pursued a career in law and education. At age 45, she enrolled at the Guignard School of Art in Belo Horizonte, marking her formal entry into the art world. Gomes now lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.

Sonia Gomes Artworks

Sonia Gomes is best known for her abstract sculptures and installations that combine secondhand textiles with materials such as wire, wood, driftwood, and everyday objects. Her dynamic, tactile works challenge conventional distinctions between craft and contemporary art, drawing on Afro-Brazilian traditions and personal memory.

Early Experimentation and ‘Lugar’ Series

Gomes’s early works emerged in the 1990s, as she began deconstructing and reassembling found fabrics, often incorporating sewing, embroidery, and knotting techniques. In the ‘Lugar’ series (2013), she folded and twisted textiles and wire, creating forms that evoke both the body and landscape.

‘Patuá’ and Amulets

The ‘Patuá’ series (2016) references protective amulets of African origin, widely used in Brazil. These works blend fabric, thread, and wire, alluding to the resilience and spirituality of Afro-Brazilian culture.

‘Raízes’ and ‘Acordes Naturais’

In the ‘Raízes (Roots)’ series, Gomes wraps and binds textiles around branches and driftwood, creating sculptures such as Correnteza (2018) that address themes of ancestry, migration, and transformation. Her ‘Acordes Naturais’ reliefs and hanging works further expand her exploration of material and form.

Major Institutional Works

Gomes’s art is included in major collections such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo; and Tate Modern, London.

Select Public Commissions

Gomes’s works have been commissioned for institutional exhibitions and public collections, including major site-specific installations at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo and Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden.

Select Awards and Accolades

• Nominated for the PIPA Prize, Brazil’s leading contemporary art award, in 2012 and 2016
• Only Brazilian artist selected for the 56th Venice Biennale (2015)

Exhibitions

Sonia Gomes has been the subject of both solo exhibitions and group exhibitions at important institutions and galleries. Below is a selection of important exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions

• ...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
• 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
• Ainda me levanto, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), and Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, 2018

Group Exhibitions

• The Poetics of Dimensions, Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, 2024
• 35th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2023
• Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2020
• Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo / Casa de Vidro, 2018
• 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2015

Sonia Gomes FAQs

Ocula | 2025