Sofia Salazar
WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?
Argentina
WHERE IS HOME NOW? WHERE HAS HOME BEEN?
Well, I have been living in Norwich, UK, for 4 years now. Prior to that I lived for six years in Buenos Aires where I went to uni, and in two other cities in Argentina. I’ve never lived anywhere for more than 8 years. I'm also part Italian, part Spanish and part Syrian. So, in a way I think it makes sense that I keep moving and trying new places. I'm planning on moving to a warmer country soon.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
Lately there's a lot of sketching and painting with not so much in mind. I'm trying to keep my anxiety aside, trying to lose control a bit, trying to work on stuff without having a plan for them already in my head. I’m also working on wall hangings, using quilted fabrics and embroidery to create large scale pieces; but again, I don't know where that’s going. Having a business can make you consider everything as a potential product, and that's a vice I'm trying to get rid of.
WHAT DOES ART DO FOR YOU?
It's my most intense source of satisfaction and frustration. When it's satisfying it's the thing I like doing the most, it's my favourite thing in life, it gives me pleasure, comfort, safety and an overall feeling of wellness and excitement.
WHAT DOES YOUR DAILY ROUTINE LOOK LIKE? DO YOU HAVE ANY HABITS?
I'm a very messy person, very disorganised. I try for short periods to get up early and keep things in lists and follow those lists, but it only works for about a week or two. I'm constantly changing my routines, trying to find new incentives to put some order in my life, but it's a constant rollercoaster. I'm beginning to understand it's part of my process. I'm also a very anxious human.
I usually end up waking at around ten, working non-stop on my orders until it's closing time at the post office and then consider it my free time. I love going out for coffee or buying old artbooks for cheap. I don't like new books unless it's literature. There's something about the way old books were printed, the touch of the paper, the colour of the pages that just makes me feel at ease.
WHAT HAS LOVE MADE YOU CAPABLE OF DOING?
Blind trust, being 100% vulnerable, learning to work to keep what's precious, and love taught me to love my body and get rid of imposed beauty standards.
CITE THREE FEMALE ARTISTS YOU ADMIRE.
Daiana Ruiz
Claire Johnson
Maria Luque
A BOOK?
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
CITE SOME SONGS THAT WOULD BE ON YOUR FAVORITE PLAYLIST?
Useless by Depeche Mode
Fascination Street by The Cure
Better Things by Massive Attack
Gone by U2
Gone by Madonna
Time for Us by Nicolas Jaar
Don't Stop the Dance by Bryan ferry
Volver by Carlos Gardel
Giros by Fito Páez
Virus by Sin Disfraz
Safari by J Balvin
HOW DO YOU THINK SOCIAL MEDIA IS CHANGING THE ART WORLD? DO YOU THINK ITS BECOME A USEFUL TOOL FOR ARTISTS?
Oh, I'm not sure about how it's affecting art and its message, but it has meant everything for me. I'm not good at being cool in real life with people I don't know, so I’d much rather be behind my screen. Social media gave me space to show my work without having to necessarily be there myself. You can find me in my work if you are willing to take the time, and I can escape the anxiety of doing it in the flesh.
DEFINE WHAT HAPPINESS IS TO YOU.
A feeling of calmness and excitement. Probably the time I feel closer to happiness, or truly content is when I'm working on something and I'm liking the result. Or when I'm riding in my brother’s car singing (yelling) along to songs we both love. Summer night conversations with some of my friends, naps with my mom.
Becoming an adult makes you realise that moments of complete happiness are not so common, so I tend to identify and treasure them when they happen. I have a beautiful memory of me and my brother this summer, in my grandfather's town after it had been raining for hours, with no reception and our speakers being the only sound audible beside birds and our wheels, I was completely happy that day.
WHAT KIND OF THINGS WOULD EXIST IN YOUR IDEAL UTOPIA?
Going full sci-fi here I would say flexible time - like you could stretch it, stop it or just fast forward it at your disposition. Equal living conditions for all, and probably teleportation. Healthy, tasty, homemade food would magically appear at one's wish. But also, in this life, my ideal thing would be: having a house in the mountains and an apartment in the city, living in both places, making things for a living, always having homemade jam and lentil stew, baklawa and coffee. Oh, and the ghosts of past loved ones just popping up from time to time, in a non-scary way.
HOW DO YOU BEGIN THE PROCESS OF MAKING A NEW PIECE?
A lot of procrastination usually. At the beginning there's a period of looking at a lot of things at once (I use Pinterest, Instagram and the library equally) where I foolishly think I can start right away, but I'm too contaminated by the same thing that inspires me. A few days, (or maybe hours if I'm lucky) later, I start sketching without any references in sight. Otherwise I end up with pieces where I can see someone else's work and it's very frustrating.
About the process itself, I almost never use a pencil. My favourite works, almost without exemption, were reached while trying to fix previous mistakes. I'm usually quite quick when sketching in order to avoid overthinking. I already think too much about everything else.
ARE YOU INFLUENCED BY A PARTICULAR ERA OF ART?
Modernism, Art Deco, Pre Raphaelitism, The Bauhaus and Ancient Civilisations.
AS AN ARTIST, WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL AT YOUR DISPOSAL?
Pen, paper and time.
WHO WOULD YOUR DREAM COLLABORATION TEAM BE WITH?
Mmm, I've never thought about it. Probably Dries Van Noten, Margiela or maybe Kenzo.
