Vásquez de la Horra was born in 1967 in Chile and lived through Pinochet’s repressive dictatorial regime, eventually fleeing in the 1990s to Germany. Through her work—engaging themes of mortality, trauma, healing, and liberation—Vásquez de la Horra reckons with the political violence and persecution she witnessed while defying stereotypes and expectations imposed upon artists from Latin America and the Global South. Central to her work is an interest in the body’s connections to plant life, animals, and landscapes. Particularly important are the artist’s depictions of women, often rendered as surrealistic topographies, the body’s contours forming mountain ranges and horizon lines. Through a visual language steeped in her own family history and grounded in Indigenous spiritual practices and mythologies, Vásquez de la Horra reimagines the world, deconstructing taboos and unearthing submerged narratives to reconcile with the ongoing effects of colonialism.

Together, the exhibition and its related catalogue chronicle Vásquez de la Horra’s extensive explorations of the body, landscape, gender and sexuality, ritual and myth, and celebrate the artist’s significant contributions to the field.

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra (b. 1967 in Chile; lives and works in Berlin) studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf before attending the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne. She is the recipient of the Käthe Kollwitz Prize (2023); the Hans Theo Ritcher Prize (2021); and The Guerlain Prize (2019). Recent exhibitions include solo presentations at Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2024); Sprovieri Gallery, London (2022); Sächsische Akademie der Künste, Dresden (2021); and Museo Novecento, Florence(2019); and group exhibitions at the 59th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2022) and the Drawing Biennial, London (2019), among others. Her work is also featured in institutional collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate, London; Pinakothek der Moderne, München; Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf; and The Philadelphia Museum of Art.