Sonia Navarro: Woven Memory

The exhibition programme of am projects continues with internationally acclaimed Spanish artist Sonia Navarro’s first solo exhibition in Hungary.

The Madrid-based multidisciplinary artist’s practice is closely connected to textile art and the legacy of traditional weaving as a form of cultural and feminine expression. Her works explore questions of craftsmanship, memory and attachment to place, while intertwining personal narratives with social and cultural experiences.

New monumental works made from esparto grass will be presented in the am projects exhibition space. Navarro began researching esparto during Manifesta 8 in Murcia in 2010. Difficult to shape and inherently coarse, the material became a defining element of her artistic practice through years of experimentation. By removing esparto from its traditional functional context and presenting it as monumental wall-based works, the material acquires new layers of meaning and a distinct visual character.

For Navarro, material is never merely a formal device. Every texture, fold, seam and braid in her works carries cultural memory. She learned sewing techniques from the women in her family, and her works remain deeply connected to knowledge passed down through generations. At the same time, they are closely tied to her native region of Murcia and to the artisan communities with whom she has collaborated for years. Rather than producing the materials herself, Navarro works closely with local artisans and craftspeople, intervening in and transforming objects created through traditional craft practices. Esparto weaving, wool and industrial PVC leather do not appear in her work as folkloric elements, but as living and continuously evolving cultural languages.

The concept of borders lies at the centre of Navarro’s practice, whether physical, mental or social. For her, borders simultaneously represent separation and connection, enclosure and openness. Her monumental textile works and relief-like installations function as landscapes in which personal memory, female experience, craft traditions and collective identities overlap and intertwine. In these works, she often explores her own and her family’s routes, boundaries and memories, evoking fields, walks and trails.

Sonia Navarro (b. 1975, Puerto Lumbreras, Spain) studied at the Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño in Murcia before earning a Fine Arts degree from the University of Granada. She later completed a master’s degree in photography at EFTI International Centre of Photography and Film in Madrid. Her work has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Royal Academy of Spain scholarship in Rome and the BMW Art Award in 2023. Her works are included in several important public collections, among them the Museo Reina Sofía, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and the University of Granada Collection. Last year, Sala Alcalá 31 in Madrid hosted her major solo exhibition, Fronteras y territorios.

The exhibition is supported by the Embassy of Spain.