Australian Artist – Sonia Payes
Bronze sculpture Artist

Of course we seem to naturally ‘see’ human faces in the strangest of places. We spot a majestic profile in skimming clouds, a howling visage in a roaring fireplace or a sombre, melancholy mien in the whorls of a tree trunk. But for all that Payes’ portrait may have been sculpted by hand; it had every appearance of something belonging to nature, something strangely remote from human intervention.

Payes’ blending of femininity and the natural has been an ongoing pursuit for well over a decade now. It carries hints, at times overt, of environmental concern in an age of climate calamity. But just as often it suggests a simple love note to her muse, her daughter, Ilana.

Sonia is an Australian visual artist and over the last twenty years has fused her foundational photographic practice of analogue with digital and sculptural forms. She has worked nationally across Australia and internationally, including a solo exhibition in Shanghai at The Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, including a two-month residency in rural Beijing at the studio of Shen Shaomin. Winning the McClelland Achievement Prize, MAP14, enabled her to pursue her sculptural practice as well. Her works are held in both public and private collections and displayed as permanent public art in Western Australia and in prestigious collections in NSW and Victoria. Her work was exhibited at the 2024 Venice Biennale, where sister gallery ARTpark Australia presented six Australian sculptors.