Maria Nepomuceno: Cunhó

Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is pleased to present Cunhó, a solo exhibition of sculptural works by Maria Nepomuceno, on view from September 2 until October 11, 2025. A public opening reception with the artist will be held on Thursday, September 4, from 6–8pm.

Maria Nepomuceno’s chimerical sculptures and wall installations meld the organic with the inorganic, in both shape and substance. Her practice integrates both traditional Brazilian craftsmanship and contemporary materials into her own personal techniques of sewing, weaving, beading, and ceramics. The spiral is essential to her work and reflects the form’s ubiquity in nature and signifying the perpetual flow of time and energy. Sewn into whorled discs and soft pockets, the spiraling coils enmesh with luminous orbs, bottle gourds, rows of beadwork, and woven straw. The resulting works evoke a vast biological spectrum ranging from microscopic cells to marcocosmic landscapes, all vibrantly inhabiting the gallery space.

The theme of abundance is vital to Nepomuceno’s work and its propensity towards the infinite, expressed through thousands of colored beads, unceasing spirals, and endless permutations of form and material. Abundance, for Nepomuceno, is not simply a matter of physical volume but a state of plenitude and continuous expansion. Blending diverse morphologies with traditional craft and contemporary installation, the works in Cunhó each sustain their own unique sculptural makeup while simultaneously embodying the boundless potential for reproduction and recombination.