JOANA VASCONCELOS IN SÃO PAULO: BETWEEN DIOR AND MYTHOLOGY

In an unprecedented collaboration with Maison Dior, Vasconcelos created a monumental textile sculpture for the fashion house’s Fall-Winter 2023/2024 runway show, titled Valkyrie Miss Dior, using twenty fabrics provided by the brand. The works now on view at Casa Triângulo –Valkyrie Leonie in the main gallery and the installation Gotas [Drops] Dior in Gallery 2– extend that project, using the same materials transformed through artisanal techniques into immersive, highly sensorial sculptures. 

Measuring 3.51 meters high, 7.29 meters wide, and 7.52 meters deep, Valkyrie Leonie is a monumental suspended sculpture that forms part of Vasconcelos’s iconic Valkyries series, developed since 2004. The series is a bold and contemporary reinterpretation of the Norse myth of the valkyries–the warrior maidens who would lead fallen heroes to the afterlife realm of Valhalla. The sculptures, with their enigmatic contours, merge textile and technological elements, revealing a visual language that deftly interlaces the mythological and the contemporary. 

Vasconcelos’s masterful handling of fabric, crochet, embroidery, and light results in sculptural compositions with a powerful physical and symbolic presence. In Valkyrie Leonie, the use of Dior fabrics –with floral patterns and sophisticated textures– gains narrative power by evoking the figure of Ginette Dior (also known as Catherine or Miss Dior), a florist and World War II French resistance fighter. Her memory is thus echoed throughout the work.

The second part of the sculpture’s title refers to Léonie La Fontaine, a Belgian feminist and pacifist, thereby becoming a tribute to women who have shaped history through their strength and delicacy. Valkyrie Leonie unfolds in space like a vibrant textile organism, with tentacular arms that envelop the setting, inviting immersion. Through its monumental choreographic presence, it transforms the gallery into a space where body, memory, and material converge.

In room 2, the installation Gotas Dior features three hanging sculptures that explore the poetic potential of suspension, gesture, and lightness. Also made of handcrafted Dior fabrics, these oversized drops evoke the movement of water, creating a lyrical and silent atmosphere. Though smaller in scale than the installation in the first room, they are equally rich in detail, extending Vasconcelos’s sculptural language while offering a contemplative mood in counterpoint to the larger installation’s exuberance.

The show reaffirms the artist’s position as a key contemporary artist, capable of transforming symbolic and everyday materials into sculptures of profound sensorial, poetic, and political impact. Between the monumental and the intimate, between mythology and the present, the exhibition beckons viewers to take part in an experience where art, history, and imagination are intertwined.

Joana Vasconcelos (1971) is a Portuguese visual artist with a career spanning over 30 years and a huge variety of media. Recognised for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations, she decontextualises everyday objects and updates the arts and crafts concept for the 21st century, establishing a dialogue between the private sphere and public space, popular heritage and refined culture. She questions the status of women, consumer society and collective identity with humour and irony. 

Joana Vasconcelos: Around the World can be seen until July 26 at Casa Triângulo, Rua Estados Unidos1324, São Paulo (Brazil).

*Cover image: Joana Vasconcelos. True colours, 2015. Handmade woollen crochet, ornaments, LED, power supply unit, gilt woodwork, polyester, 82 x 90,5 x 35 cm. Courtesy: Atelier Joana Vasconcelos. Photographer Credit: Luís Vasconcelos