CORY REYONLDS | DATE 5/8/2018

My work is black, it is feminine, and it is marginal: Sonia Gomes

"Lullaby" (2016) is reproduced from Sonia Gomes, the first monograph on the self-taught Brazilian sculptor. The daughter of a white father and black mother, Gomes was orphaned very young and raised until the age of five by her maternal grandmother, a midwife and faith healer who taught Gomes how to bind, braid and bundle textiles. Later raised by her father's wealthy family, Gomes studied law before turning to art. "Of course my work carries the South," she is quoted by Solange Farkas, "My work is black, it is feminine, and it is marginal. I am a rebel. I never worried about masking or stifling anything that might or might not fit standards of what is called art. I always sought nonconformity with things that are established. I had to overcome a lot of obstacles because I'm a woman, because I'm black, because I was too old to be considered one of Brazilian art's young talents. Even here, people found it difficult to understand my work. People reject our roots, they feel more comfortable with what comes from abroad. We're prejudiced against ourselves. My work is Brazilian."