sofia ortega

sofia c.

ortega

undergraduate artist

Russian Abstract Wireframe Elements Starburst Fill

Artist CV

Education

2021-2025 BA in Digital Storytelling, Video Art, Minor in Art, Fibers, University of Missouri, Columbia MO

Appointments and Professional Experience

2023 Weaving Demonstration, 2023 Holiday Show Open House, The Montminy Gallery

Awards and Honors

2024 Award of Merit for Artistic Expression, University of Missouri, Columbia MO

Group Exhibitions

2024 Visual Art and Design Showcase, Columbia Art League, Columbia MO, Curator: Cynthia Evans

Material Study, Memorial Student Union, University of Missouri, Columbia MO, Show Me Research Week

Artist Statement

I use mixed mediums in my work to convey my experience of my cultural identity and familial history. I combine digital elements with fibers and printing techniques in an effort to stitch together pieces of my history like a puzzle. The mixed imagery of my family in Venezuela serves to highlight the themes of motherhood, religion, identity, and family within Latinidad.

The practices in my work have taught me that unfounded religious worship can lead to blind devotion in other aspects of your life. The rituals that were passed down and taught at a young age are mirrored by the repetition in the processes performed while creating tedious works of art like weavings, soft sculptures, or screenprints. I use these practices to communicate how learning devotion at a young age can complement and influence expression of devotion as an adult through personal acts of faith and ritual.

I am largely inspired by the idea of believing your mother is an omniscient figure from which you sprouted. My relationship with my faith is directly tied to my relationship with the women that passed it down to me; I believe in their sacrifices and blind devotion. My work explores the lives of these larger than life matriarchs that I honor and acts as a direct response to their devotion as a testament of love. I aim to capture the world of my youth and explore the intimate relationships with the subjects of the work.

Combining mediums acts as a mechanism to make sense of religion and worship in the context of my life and what it means to worship those who taught me devotion instead of their imposed idols by making them the subjects of praise and admiration in my work.

Artist Bio

@sof0rteg

@mudstitch

Sofia Ortega (b. 2003) is a third year undergraduate Digital Storytelling student minoring in Art at the University of Missouri and is the recipient of an Award of Merit for Artistic Expression from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Born in Michigan to Venezuelan parents, they have always been attracted to bright colors, patterns, and textures found in their culture. Ortega grew up around women who have sewn, embroidered, and done other forms of fiber art since a young age, and have been inspired by the skills passed on by them and the bond created through the generational passing of these basic skills. The disconnect of being from one country but living in another has always inspired their work, and the contrast between the two cultures is apparent in their work. Mixing digital media, textile, and printing techniques, their work is a testament to their lived experience and oral history being stitched together across various mediums.