Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla(I Am an Island)

The exhibition Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla (I Am an Island), organized by The Phillips Collection, presents the Cuban artist’s first retrospective in a museum. The exhibition traces Sanchez’s prolific career, from her beginnings in Cuba, her extended travels throughout Europe and America, to her arrival in Puerto Rico, where she currently lives and works. Nearly 70 years of work can be seen through approximately 65 works, including paintings, works on paper, three-dimensional canvases, and sculptural pieces, as well as illustrations, sketches, and ephemeral objects that reflect Sanchez’s artistic journey. Some of the themes depicted refer to characters from the Greek mythology, such as Antigone, the Amazons, and Trojan warriors. Other works have recurring themes of lunar shapes, erotic topology, and ink drawings that project physical and psychological spaces, adding another dimension to their curved geometry with metaphorical associations. The title of the exhibition, Soy Isla, functions as a personal metaphor for Sanchez’s experience as an islander simultaneously connected and disconnected from the continent’s artistic currents.