Maria Saygua André
Maria Saygua André (Bolivia, 1996) is a Franco-Bolivian textile artist and sculptor. She lives and works in Brussels.
Biography
Maria Saygua André (Bolivia, 1996) is a Franco-Bolivian artist working in Brussels. Her work takes the form of installations combining textiles and sculpture. She questions the different know-hows and epistemic resources between Latin America and Bolivia in order to create new imaginary worlds.
Maria Saygua André graduated in 2020 from the Académie Royale des Beaux-arts in Brussels. She has had the opportunity to present her work at various exhibitions in Belgium, including The Constant Now x S.M.A.K (Antwerp) in 2022, as part of POCPOC, a mentoring programme linking artists from diverse backgrounds with professionals from the Belgian art world. At C-mine (Genk) in 2022, in collaboration with Stormopkomst and Please Add Color for the creation of several performative works. At BOZAR (Brussels), at the invitation of «Les Vieux en Colère» as part of Next Generation Please. At Transplantation Gallery (Paris), a curatorial project proposed by Amandine Nana. At the Musée de la Manufacture (Roubaix), invited by Japanese textile artist Akane Yorita. And at the Wild Gallery (Brussels). She has taken part in international residencies at the Espronceda Institute x Art Nou (Barcelona) after winning the Espronceda-ARBA-ESA prize, and more recently at the Brakke Grond theater (Amsterdam) in collaboration with Sandra Delgadio, a Belgian-Bolivian choreographer.
In 2023, she was awarded the SOFAM prize to continue her research into textile and ceramic techniques in her native Bolivia.
She has also been selected for the Advanced Textile Programme mentored by Otobong Nkanga at the Textiel Museum in Tilburg, Netherlands, to further her theoretical and practical research into textiles in November 2023.
Committed to creating social links, she has also been involved in a number of artistic and socio-cultural projects, such as the ASBL L’Accroche (Forest and Ixelles, 2021-2023), a social and cultural centre run on a voluntary basis and hosting a range of cultural events, workshops and free know-how-sharing activities. She also took part in the ‘Bodies of knowledge’ semi-nomadic class project devised by Sarah Vanhee (Brussels, 2022), which invited a diverse group of people to share their knowledge of their life experiences. More recently, she has been involved in the ‘Plein tompête’ project, a space for exhibitions and neighbourhood workshops in Saint-Gilles (2024). She has also run workshops on her artistic practice in various cultural centres, including C-mine (Genk), Warande (Turnhout) and CC Factorij (Zaventem).
Education
Awards & Prize
2024
Bourse Sofam – Lauréare – SOFAM, Brussels, BE
2023
SOFAM Prize – Laureate – SOFAM, Brussels, BE
2021
Minister of Higher Education Prize – Laureate – Becraft, Mons, BE
Espronceda Prize – Laureate – Espronceda residency, Barcelona, ES
2020
Laurent Moonens Prize – Selection – Moonens Foundation, Brussels, BE
Residencies
Discutions & publications
« Inhearts 3 » / Publication, Museu Textil, Sao Paulo, BRA (upcoming)
« Mujeres de trenzas: ropa e identidades de las cholas paceñas » / Talk
June 2024, Centro Cultural de España en La Paz, BO
« SOFAM prize » / Publication, jan. 2024
« Bodies of knowledge » / Discussion at the initiative of Sarah Vanhee, dec. & Jan. 2022, Brussels
Collective exhibitions
« Dans le toucher, racines et ontologies » Art & Craft aujourd’hui, Contextile Biennale, Guimarães, PO
« Guild » / Curated by Andia Coral, August 2024, Filet Gallery, London, UK
« What a time to alive » / Jul.-Sept 2024, Mino Art Space, Antwerp, BE
« Welcome to the Age of Chaos, Welcome to Entrotopia » / May 2024, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
« Maison de fumée » / Curated by Ximena Maldonado, April 2024, Moonens Fondation, Brussels, BE
« A matter of life » / March 2024, Textiel Museum, Tilburg, NL
« No images » / Curated by Magali Elali, december 2022, The Constant Now, Antwerp, BE
« FREETOWN » / Curated by Magali Elali, at the initiative of S.M.A.K Museum, Gent, BE
October 2022, The Constant Now, Antwerp, BE
September 2022, Fire is Gold x S.M.A.K Museum, Antwerp, BE
« Archaic map » / March 22, Le Lac, Brussels, BE
« Dirty games » / Curated by Kevin Kotahunyi, Stormopkomst
March 2022, C-mine, Genk, BE
April l 2022, De Warande, Turnout, BE
May 2022, cc Westrand, Dilbeek, BE
« Archeology of the futur » / Curated by Kevin Kotahunyi, nov. 2021, CC de Factorij, Zaventem, BE
« Conversation » / Art Nou Contemporary Circuit of Emerging Artist
August 2021, Espronceda Institute of Art & Culture, Barcelone, ES
« L.Y.F.E » / June 2021, Espace Vanderborght, Brussels, BE
« The mirror and the lamp » / Curated by Pauline Hatzigeorgiou
Jan. – Feb. 2021, private space, Ixelles, BE
« Tremplin » / Feb. 2021, Abbattoirs de Mons, Mons, BE
« Next Generation Please » / Sept. 2020, BOZAR, Bruxelles, BE
« Hot Spots » / Sept. 2020, Autonomie Art Center, Bruxelles, BE
« (In-) process » / Curated by Margaux Minodier, oct. 2020, Abbaye of Forest,, BE
« Ecole Paris-BXL » / Curated by Amandine Nana, sept. 2020, Transplantation Gallery, Paris, FR
« Correspondance textile » / March 2020, La Tour à Plomb, Brussels, BE
« Pointe, papier, fuseau » / Feb. 2020, MAAC, Brussels, BE
« Programme Délicat » / 2019, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
« Lignes » / 2019, La Manufacture – Musée de la Mémoire et de la Création Textile, Roubaix, FR
« Plutôt la vie » / 2018, LaMab, Brussels, BE
« Carte de Visite » / 2017, Espace Vanderborght, Brussels, BE
Individual exhibition
« Atrapando el agua » / Nov. 2022, Wild Gallery, Bruxelles, BE
