Somers Gallery, in collaboration with curatorial duo LATAMesa (Carolina Orlando and Pilar Seivane) and Argentine nomadic gallery Intemperie, is pleased to present and so the broken mend themselves, a six-week exhibition featuring the work of six Latin American women artists: Alejandra Mizrahi, Mara Caffarone, Lulú Lobo, Eilen Itzel Mena, Camila Barvo, and Ume Dahlia. Their practices—spanning painting, sculpture, textile, graphic art, and performance—explore notions of mending as both a technical act and a poetic symbol.

In and so the broken mend themselves the act of mending transcends mere repair, becoming an expression of resilience, adaptation, and memory. Each work invites reflection on how materiality, colour and techniques, often passed down through generations, serve as conduits for narratives of resilience, transformation, and the continuous negotiation of identity. Mending embodies the symbolic suturing of the self following personal or collective trauma, where healing, invention, and growth emerges through the process of repair.

The participating artists employ varied approaches—both materially and thematically—in their creative practices and engagement with the subject. Eilen Itzel Mena’s practice is characterised by its intuitiveness and playfulness, allowing her to navigate grief through the pursuit of joy. Ume Dahlia’s work also addresses trauma through the use of the oyster as a symbol of resilience and personal growth. Mara Caffarone’s research-based practice aims to repair fractures in historical narratives while reclaiming space for often-forgotten indigenous worldviews. Alejandra Mizrahi seeks to restore connections to ancestral indigenous craftsmanship, while Camila Barvo intertwines personal and cultural narratives through the tactile art of embroidery. Lastly, Lulú Lobo employs technical printing processes, where the irregularities within repetition allows for the re-generation of new forms and meanings.

As these artists thread, unthread, and rethread along an unstable horizon—navigating from a decentered centre, from the displaced periphery which is Latin America —their works reflect the ongoing process of mending. Each gesture, line, and colour functions not only as a form of expression, but also as the threads that weave a binding connection, fostering repair and the creation of something new. In this exhibition, mending emerges as a powerful metaphor for resilience, inviting viewers to engage with their own narratives of healing and transformation.

Produced and curated by: LATAMesa (Carolina Orlando and Pilar Seivane) and Intemperie

Install Shots: AURA photo