Sonia Gomes (b. 1948, Caetanópolis, Brazil) is a Brazilian artist who lives and works in São Paulo. She developed her practice outside formal academic training, drawing on personal experience and material knowledge rooted in everyday life. Before dedicating herself fully to art, Gomes worked in various professional contexts, including the textile and fashion industries, which continue to shape her approach to material and construction.
Working primarily with textiles, Gomes creates sculptural assemblages from discarded fabrics, clothing and found objects. Her process is based on collecting, cutting, tying and stitching materials, often without preliminary sketches, allowing forms to emerge through direct engagement with the material itself. While her practice engages with traditions of craft, she repositions these techniques within a contemporary sculptural context.
Gomes’ work is shaped by personal memory, cultural heritage and broader histories of labour and material circulation in Brazil. The use of worn and repurposed fabrics carries traces of previous lives, embedding her works with narrative and emotional resonance. Without adhering to a fixed iconography, her practice explores themes of transformation, resilience and the relationship between body, material and space.
Her work has been presented in major international exhibitions, including the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), curated by Okwui Enwezor, and the 60th Venice Biennale (2024). She has held solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) and the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (MAC Niterói), and has participated in exhibitions including the Gwangju Biennale, the Liverpool Biennial and the 35th Bienal de São Paulo. In 2025, her work was also presented at Frieze New York by Mendes Wood DM alongside her major institutional exhibition Ó Abre Alas! at Storm King Art Center, her first solo institutional exhibition in the United States.
Her work is held in significant public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., contributing to her recognition as a key figure in contemporary Brazilian art.