Reception and Gallery Talk: November 20, 2020 at 3pm
Sulfur Studios is pleased to present Desire Path, an MFA thesis exhibition by Radheya Visperas Ponce. Working in textile transformation, weaving, and sewing, Ponce explores materiality, identity, and healing through making. In Desire Path, she presents abstracted yet resilient and potent fabric works created with reclaimed textiles. She considers these collected textiles as silent witnesses in our daily lives. Through material transformation, Ponce evokes a cathartic and expressive process of making that tells a story about self-reflection, reclaiming one’s voice, and the diverse textures of experiences of migrant women of color. Desire Path evokes the walking paths created over time by the wishful feet and innate curiosity of people who have taken their own alternative routes. With the same spirit, Ponce creates her own desire path, exploring cloth as a vessel of memory and textile making as a mindful inquiry into the vibrant and empowering histories of immigrant women, the home, and the resilient hearts of those in search of healing.
Desire Path is on display from November 19th through the 21st, with a gallery reception on November 20th at 3PM. Gallery entry is limited to a maximum of 10 guests at a time, and masks are required. The exhibition may be viewed during the gallery’s normal business hours: Thursday – Saturday, noon to 5PM, or by appointment.
Radheya Visperas Ponce (b.1994) is a Filipina artist living and working in between Savannah, Georgia and Doha, Qatar. She holds a BFA in Fashion Design (honors) from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and is a Master of Fine Arts in Fibers candidate at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Qatar, Singapore and the US. She has recently been awarded a Red Dot Design Concept award and is one of the finalists of the Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design award this year. She is also featured in the Talking Textiles magazine by Lidewij Edelkoort in volume 5 “Generation 2020” and the Red Dot Design Concept Yearbook 2020/2021. Having lived in the Philippines, Qatar and the US, and living in between cultures, she explores the diverse experiences of migrant women of color.
