Sophia Borowska

Statement

Sophia Borowska is an artist and weaver based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal, Canada. Her practice explores architecture and the built environment with a focus on materiality. She creates site-specific installations inspired by the social contexts and power structures surrounding architecture and urban development. Informed by feminist architectural theory, she explores differential narratives of space and place to centre the experiences of women and othered bodies.

Recognizing that the fields of architecture and urban planning are exhaustively male-dominated, Borowska disrupts the normative and exclusionary ways that we think about space using textile interventions. To express this perspective shift, she combines weaving techniques with reclaimed construction materials like concrete, wood, and steel.

GlogauAIR Project

While researching Berlin’s architecture, I became fascinated by the phenomenon of the “Trümmerfrauen,” or Rubble-Women, and the intersections of gender, labour, and politics that they represent. Post WWII in Berlin, all women aged 15-50 were ordered to clear rubble and salvage re-usable materials from the ruins of the city. Much of this rubble was transformed into grassy hills throughout the city called Schuttbergs.

Working from this potent scenario, I will develop a site-specific installation combining foraged construction materials with weaving techniques. I am drawn to the abject nature of old construction materials, and inspired by a vision of sustainable architecture wherein materials would be re-purposed instead of thrown away. This very process took place in postwar Berlin, through the labour of the Trümmerfrauen and the construction of Schuttbergs. My installation for the Open Studios will use suspension, tension, and gravity to create an interpretation of a Schuttberg, or debris mountain.

Installation, Photography, and Sculpture

CV Summary

Solo Exhibitions

• Dec 2022–Jan 2023 Prefab Arcadia, KAMU WeeGee Lounge, Espoo, Finland.
• May–Jun 2020 Megastrukturer, Pakhusgalleriet, Nykøbing Sj. Denmark.
• Nov–Dec 2017 Lot, Gamma, Montréal, QC, Canada.

Select Group Exhibitions

• Jan–Feb 2023 Identités, presented by Artroduction, Projet Casa, Montréal, QC.
• Jan–Apr 2022 L’Homme qui a vu l’homme qui a vu l’ours, Musée des beaux arts de Sherbrooke, QC.
• Dec 2021 Nouer, Matéria, Québec, QC.
• Sep–Oct 2021 Maison molle, Le Livart, Montréal, QC.
• Sep 2021 Good Adventure, Artch, Montréal, QC.
• Apr–May 2021 flux constant flux, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montréal, QC.
• Sep–Oct 2020 Cheville, galerie atelier b, Montréal, QC. (Duo with Teresa Dorey)
• May–Jun 2019 L’abstraction dans le Jacquard, Centre Matéria, Québec, QC.
• Sep–Oct 2018 The Space, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC.
• Aug 2018 Unmade, Little Sister Gallery, Toronto, ON.
• Apr 2018 Tie It Off & Count Again, HAVN, Hamilton, ON.
• Mar–Apr 2018 The Material Turn, FOFA Gallery, Montréal, QC
• Mar 2017 Perplexities: Space, Form and Image, Winsor Gallery,Vancouver, B-C.
• Nov–Dec 2016 Future Memories, articule centre d’artistes, Montréal, QC.
• Apr–May 2016 Object Lesson, Centre des art actuels Skol, Montreal, QC.
• Apr 2016 Subject/Object Relations, Eastern Bloc, Montreal, QC.
• Nov 2015 Over Under Under Over,VAV Gallery, Concordia University,Montréal, QC. (Duo with Emma Sise).
• Oct – Dec 2014 Combine 2014,FOFA Gallery, Montréal, QC.
• Jun 2013 Art Waste Group Show, Gallery Gachet, Vancouver B-C.

Education

• 2013-2016 BFA (great distinction) in Fibres and Material Practices. Concordia University, Montréal, QC.
• 2011-2013 Diploma, with honours, in Textile Arts. Capilano University, North Vancouver, B-C.

Select Residencies

• Sep–Dec 2022 CALQ-Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation. Espoo, Finland.
• Jun – Aug 2021 Maison des métiers d’art du Québec, QC.
• Mar–May 2020 Kunstkollektivet 8B. Unnerud, Denmark

Select Awards, Grants, and Scholarships

• Aug 2022 Residency grant, Arts Abroad, Canada Council for the Arts.
• May 2022 Quebec-Finland Reciprocal artist residency grant, CALQ.
• Mar 2021 Explore and Create, Canada Council for the Arts.
• Feb 2021 Aide aux artisans et aux entreprises en démarrage, SODEC.
• Dec 2020 Territorial Partnership Grant, CALQ.
• Nov 2018 Travel grant, Arts Across Canada, Canada Council for the Arts.
• Apr 2015 HGA Scholarship, Handweavers’ Guild of America.

Gallery