Les voix des fleuves(Crossing the water)
Curated by Alexia Fabre
La Biennale De Lyon
20 September 2024 – 1 May 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales’ sculptural work explores the dynamics governing the movement of materials and people. Chosen for their social, economic and political connotations, the objects and materials she uses confront the logic of production, commodification and globalisation.
Sofia Salazar Rosales’s creations are closely linked to travel, and are a response to the need to put down roots and keep the memories alive. Her pieces bring together craft and industrial elements; they are conceived as spaces for reconciliation and negotiation between different materials, histories and contexts.
Sculptures of consumer products obtained through export – bananas and bags for the food industry — are a reminder of the political and economic issues surrounding mobility. Also associated with travel, Fue a lo mejor la impaciencia de tanto esperar tu llegada (“Was it perhaps the impatience of spending so long waiting for you to appear”) is inspired by a family memory: the work reproduces an earring that Sofía Salazar Rosales’s mother gave her when she left for France. Although her works may seem fossilised, looking rather like tired, forgotten bodies, Sofia Salazar Rosales nevertheless treats them with great tenderness, and writes letters full of gentle tenderness to them. In linking her own private history with that of certain architectural structures linked to agro-exportation, Sofia Salazar Rosales’ work examines the fragility and resilience of matter and narratives.
Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, What does the city hide in a hug?, 2024, Plaster, wire mesh, cardboard, polyester resin, fiberglass, iron filings, Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, What does the city hide in a hug?, 2024, Plaster, wire mesh, cardboard, polyester resin, fiberglass, iron filings, Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, We are contextual and sentimental (La Mestiza), 2024, Paraffin, plaster strips, printing on polyester resin and fiberglass paper, plaster, tow, wood and plaster, 72 × 133 × 100 cm, Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, They ask to stay, 2024, Glass beads, nylon and iron wire, paraffin, plaster strips, cement, concrete iron, plaster, tow, wood and sticking plaster, 227 × 125 × 170 cm, Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, Can’t you hear them breathing?, 2024, Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, Witness, 2024, Copper, 3D printing, plaster, tow, wood and metal plaster and screws, 72 × 133 × 100 cm, Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Sofía Salazar Rosales, When the axial skeleton decides to speak & We are contextual and sentimental, 2024, crushed glass, black quartzite, paraffin, plaster strips, vinyl glue, polyester resin and fiberglass, 79 × 230 × 60 cm , Installation view of La Biennale De Lyon: Les voix des fleuves (Crossing the water), Curated by Alexia Fabre, Lyon, 2024 – 2025
Photo by Estefanía Henríquez Cubillos