INMA BARRERO

The basis of Barrero’s work is the handmade ceramic bead, with hundreds of beads joining to create a single sculpture. The beads take their inspiration from divine and universal sources, from the artist’s memories of her grandmother’s rosary to Greek komboloi (worry beads) and Buddhist prayer beads, which she encountered while living and working in Kyoto. To form the beads, she employs unconventional combinations of porcelain, earthenware, and terracotta, as well as soils from Japan, Mexico, and Spain to “unite different sources of earth in the figure of the mother”. She merges these with different glazing techniques and links or “weaves” the beads with metal wire, an homage to two forms of ceramic repair—the Spanish lañado, which restores ceramics with metal bindings or lañas—and the Japanese kintsugi, which mends breakages with lacquer dusted with powdered metals, such as gold.

When creating her anthropometric abstractions, Barrero does not work off of sketches; instead, as she describes, “The sculptures emerge before their names,” continuing, “Forms accumulate—standing, reclining, carrying, enclosing, spilling.” Her titles are informed by mythical and historical sources and images, yet remain open to interpretation. Pachamama (2023–26), with its triangular composition, alludes to the Virgin Mary, while the reclining Tellus (2023–26) evokes alluring art-historical odalisques. The floor sculpture Ataecina (2023–26) rises from the ground like an archaeologically excavated figure. Barrero’s references to history are purposeful. “It is important to create a connection to the past,” she states. “The sculptures connect me to something primordial, primitive, and beautiful.” Their soulfulness resonates today.

The composition The Mothers’ Voice (2026) by Barrero, created in collaboration with Yannick Paget and Yumiko Tanimura, will play in the exhibition space. The work features the sounds of Barrero’s ceramic beads moving and making contact with each other, as well as Tanimura’s voice, against a seascape.

Courtesy Lévy Gorvy Dayan.