Fotos cortesía de la Sala Alcalá 31

On view through 6 July at Sala Alcalá 31 in Madrid is a solo exhibition of the artist Sonia Navarro (Puerto Lumbreras, Murcia, 1975). It gathers over forty works completed since 1999, including collages, installations, sculptures, drawings, and photographs, under the curatorship of María de Corral and Lorena Martínez de Corral.

Navarro’s work is characterized by a profoundly tactile and symbolic focus. Through textiles, patterns, needlework, and natural materials like esparto grass, the artist constructs a visual language that moves between the intimate and the collective, between the artisanal and the contemporary. She upholds the traditional skills passed down from the women of her family, such as sewing, giving those techniques new significance from a feminist, ecological, and social perspective.

The exhibition is organized not chronologically but through theme blocs that throw light on the artist’s creative process. Every piece establishes a dialogue between tradition and modernity, and exalts personal memory as a vehicle for universal reflection. The artist speaks of her interest in the entire artisanal process, from the gathering of esparto grass to its treatment and concoction, defending the ancestral wisdom of these crafts and their bond with the territory.

‘Borders and territories’ is also an emotional journey that invites the visitor to explore notions of identity, belonging, feminism, and sustainability. Navarro’s use of waste material and artisanal techniques is in line with her commitment to protect the environment and popular culture.

The exhibition offers a sensory and conceptual experience through works that interweave forms, textures, and narratives. Sonia Navarro thus gives us a contemporary view that brings back traditional know-how for use in an artistic proposal of great symbolic and critical content.