Sofía Salazar Rosales – Il y a des corps fatigués par le voyage qui cherchent à s’enraciner, 2024

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. Sofía 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, Sofía 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, Sofía Salazar Rosales’ work examines the fragility and resilience of matter and narratives.