Sofía Salazar Rosales
Sofía Salazar Rosales (1999, Quito, Ecuador) lives and works between Paris, France and Quito, Ecuador. She has recently completed a master’s degree with distinction at the School of Fine Arts (ENSBA Paris) in the ateliers of Tatiana Trouvé, Petrit Halilaj and Álvaro Urbano. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with distinction from School of Fine Arts of Lyon (ENSBA Lyon) where she worked in the studios of Pauline Bastard and Niek Van de Steeg. She is currently participating in the two-year residency at De Ateliers in Amsterdam.
Salazar Rosales’s work develops from a sentence she wrote: “Hay cuerpos cansados por el viaje que buscan enraizarse” (There are bodies tired from the journey that seek to root). Her interest focuses on how objects have a potential to show social, political, and economic contexts, specifically linked to the displacement of humans, goods and other objects.
She conceives her pieces as spaces of reconciliation to negotiate between the object, the material and their history throughout different contexts. Reconciling is also a constructive gesture in her work, which continuously transforms the objects with particular focus on their emotional effect. Salazar Rosales and her sculptures have a relationship of affection. The artist says: “We are contextual, but also sentimental.”
In 2023, she was nominated for Premio illy Sustain Art Prize and Emerige-CPGA Prize and in 2022, she won the SARR Prize. Her first publication Hay cuerpos cansados por el viaje que buscan enraizarse (There are bodies tired from the journey seeking to root) was published by ChertLüdde on the occasion of her 2022 solo exhibition at Bungalow, Berlin and contains letters from her diary addressed to her sculptures.
Collection: Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid.
Education
2023
School of Fine Arts of Paris, ENSBA Paris (MFA)
2021
School of Fine Arts of Lyon, ENSBA Lyon (BFA)
Residencies and Prizes
2023
De Ateliers, Amsterdam
Shortlisted for the Premio illy Sustain Art Prize, Madrid
Shortlisted for the Emerige-CPGA Prize, Madrid
2022
SARR Prize, Paris/Chicago
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Imagínate vivir en suiza y perderte esto, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen, Sankt Gallen
2024
Simulacros de cimiento, EL CHICO, Madrid
The Desire to Dance with Someone Who Is Not Here, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Yo no sé si tenga amor la eternidad, Pero allá, tal como aquí, En la boca llevarás, Sabor a mí, Alice Amati Gallery, London
2023
Tal vez la urgencia del arribo extienda mi lenguaje (Maybe the urgency of arrival will extend my language), School of Fine Arts of Paris, ENSBA Paris
Mantengo la urgencia de reconciliar (Holding the urge to reconcile), Curated by Juan Felipe Paredes, Juniin, Guayaquil
2022
Hay cuerpos cansados por el viaje que buscan enraizarse (There are bodies tired from the journey seeking to root), Bungalow/ChertLüdde, Berlin
2021
Il y a des corps fatigués par le voyage qui cherchent à s’enraciner (There are bodies tired from the journey seeking to root), School of Fine Arts of Lyon, ENSBA Lyon
Group Exhibitions
2025
100% L’EXPO>Madrid, Curated by Pily Estrada, Institut Français de Madrid, Madrid
Voces/Gestos/Ejercicios, Curated by Pily Estrada, Casa Ecuador, Madrid
Memory Lane, Curated by Aquiles Jarrín, Nora Aurrekoetxea Etxebarria and Luisa Seipp, Ventana Project, Berlin
Un suolo senza tempo, Art City Bologna 2025, Bologna
2024
A soft edge to break a sword, ChertLüdde Potsdamer Straße 97, Berlin
17 Contemporary Art Biennial of Lyon, Crossing the water, Lyon (upcoming 21 September)
Nobody is a stranger, Curated by Armelle Leturcq, No Name, Paris
Radicar Raði’kaɾ, Curated by Margaux Knight, Poush, Aubervilliers
100% L’EXPO, La Villette, Paris
El vuelo del Quetzal, Curated by Dayneris Brito 6b, Paris (Saint Denis)
Des lignes de désir, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Shaping, Curated by Zohreh Deldadeh, Anne-Laure Peressin and Andy Rankin, Poush, Aubervilliers
2023
My Demons My Angels, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Pays rêvé, pays revers, Curated by Juliana Caffé, Petite Galerie – Cité internationale des arts, Paris
Mouse trap, Atelier Tatiana Trouvé, Galeries droite et gauche, School of Fine Arts of Paris
Crush, Curated by Marc Donnadieu, Madeleine Mathé and Stéphanie Pécourt, School of Fine Arts of Paris
Young Talents: Polymathic Nature, Canepaneri gallery, Genova
Alrededor de tu piel ato y desato la mía, Julio Artist Run Space, Paris
Sur le feu, Curated by Antariksa, Andréanne Béguin, Qu Chang, Mélanie Bouteloup and Armelle Pradalier, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Young Talents: Polymathic Nature. Step 2., C+N Gallery Canepaneri, Milan
The Perf. End, Curated by Camilla Giaccio Via Privata Passo Pordoi, Milano
2022
Flash Point, Curated by Pily Estrada, Ponce + Robles, Madrid
Piel de Serpiente, Curated by Noelia Portela and Valentina Rosas, Shmorevaz, Paris
Crush, Curated by Cristiano Raimondi, Alexia Fabre and Audrey Illouz, School of Fine Arts of Paris, ENSBA Paris
Traces Vagabondes, Curated by Mehdi-Georges Lahlou, International School of Culture and Art Market Professions, Paris
A rather be A-line, Curated by Noelia Portela, Shmorevaz, Paris
Shifting Balance, Curated by Marta Orsola Sironi, MMAT Collection, London
2021
Ai miz yu, Curated by Gisselle Girón Casas, The Other Art Fair, Turin
The noises that you make, Atelier Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano, Galeries droite et gauche, School of Fine Arts of Paris
Bibliography
2024
Catalogue: “17e Biennale de Lyon Art contemporain”, published on the occasion of the exhibition “Les voix des fleuves, Crossing the water” during the 17th edition of the Lyon Biennale, ISBN: 9782958472412
“Sofía Salazar Rosales: A Poetic Journey Through the Material” by Noushin Afzali, Contemporary And, 21 August, online.
“The Absence of Touch: An Interview with Sofía Salazar Rosales” by William Kherbek, Berlin Art Link, 9 July, online.
“Sofía Salazar Rosales. Healing through a study of material culture” by Lucy Rose Cunningham, L’Essenziale Studio, print.
‘Sofía Salazar Rosales: “My Anthropomorphic Sculptures Keep in Their Mouths the Flavour of Their Origins”’ by Keshav Anand, Something Curated, 22 May, online.
“5 Must-See Shows at Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024” by Chris Erik Thomas, ARTnews, April, online.
“Sofía Salazar Rosales At Alice Amati: ‘yo no sé si tenga amor la eternidad, pero allá, tal como aquí, en la boca llevarás, sabor a mí’” by Avantika Pathania, Fetch, April, online .
“Gallery Weekend 2024: The Schöneberg Walkabout” by Eva Szwarc, Berlin Art Link, April, online.
2022
“Sofía Salazar Rosales: Mantengo la Urgencia de Reconciliar”, by Juan Felipe Paredes, Artishock, 22 October, Online.
“Sofía Salazar Rosales at Bungalow”, Art Viewer, 8 June.
“How to Blossom in Berlin: ChertLüdde opens its doors in Schöneberg”, by An Paenhuysen, Berlin Art Link, 24 May, Online.
“Gallery Weekend Berlin 2022: 14 Ausstellungen, die ihr nicht verpassen solltet”, by Anna Meinecke, Gallery Talk, 27 April, Online.
“Gallery weekend: Berlin Spring” by Boris Pofalla, Monopol, 26 April, Online.
Also Known As Africa: Alterner, Edited by Eva Barois De Caevel, Issue 8, Bureau Contemporary Art Events, Paris
Hay cuerpos cansados por el viaje que buscan enraizarse (There are bodies tired from the journey seeking to root) by Sofía Salazar Rosales, Edited by Nina Hanz, Translation Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, Published by ChertLüdde
, Berlin
2021
“Sofía José Salazar Rosales”, The SARR Collection, 2021, Online.