2023 ARTIST BIOS | Sonia Payes

/ / Artist Bios 2023

About Sonia Payes

As an Australian based multi-media artist, Payes has tirelessly expanded the scope of her practice over nearly 20 years. Her works have been exhibited in Australia, Auckland, Shanghai, Beijing, Tampa, Los Angeles, Spain and London.

In 2014, Payes won the McClelland Sculpture Park & Gallery Achievement Prize, MAP14, for her 5 meter fibreglass sculpture installation. This resulted in her ground-breaking solo exhibition, Parallel Futures in 2016 at McClelland Gallery whilst launching her monograph TRANSFORMATIONS: The Art of Sonia Payes, by Dr. Ashley Crawford; published by Thames and Hudson. Payes’ new 2.5m bronze sculpture titled Emergence, recently won the Mayor’s Award at Bondi Sculpture By The Sea and can be seen on the Mornington Peninsula. Her works span across three Australian states as public art.

In 2022 Payes’ solo photography and sculpture exhibition, ALCHEMY featured at Fringe Festival in Perth, Western Australia. The photographic element of her ALCHEMY exhibition featured in Barcelona’s 6th Photo Biennial 2021 as a side show to the works of Helmut Newton.  

2023 sees Payes exhibiting at FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography in Barcelona, as one of the selected winners of the 19th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards.

Sonia Payes is represented by Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne, and her work is owned by private and public collections globally.

2023 SWELL ARTWORK – Woman In Blue, 2022

‘Woman in Blue’, 2022, presents a symbiotic relation with the state of nature, conveying a subjective impression of environmental distress. This form entering survival mode; waiting pensively to emerge.

As climate change intensifies, now is a time of global introspection. The current functioning of civilization demands a radical reappraisal to ensure a sustainable world for future generations, and this is a hope borne out and perpetuated through Payes’ sculpture: her daughter Ilana’s visage is an integral part of their design.

Socials:

Instagram: @sonia__payes

Website: soniapayes.com

Come and see for yourself at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Pacific Parade, Currumbin 8th – 17th September