iPalais de Tokyo · 16e arrondissement
Wild Heart
Sonia Gomes's textile-based sculptures draw on Afro-Brazilian heritage, transforming fabric and craft into vehicles of memory, care and resistance.
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Preview: written before the show opened
The newest piece shares the show's name. Perto do Coração Selvagem ("near the wild heart") is a 2025 work from Sonia Gomes's Trouxa series, cloth stitched and bound with rope, beads and lace. The oldest piece named so far is Torção, from 2004: fabric twisted around metal wire. Between them sit twenty years of work, all built from found or gifted textiles that still carry their past lives.
Gomes, born in Caetanópolis, Brazil, in 1948, worked as a lawyer and only turned to art in her forties. She knots, plaits and embroiders with techniques drawn from Afro-Brazilian traditions. You meet the work at three heights: hanging from above, fixed to the wall and sitting on the floor. The curators have threaded red through the whole show on purpose, so watch for it as you go round.
No reviews yet, since it opens on 21 October. A ticket costs €13, or €9 reduced. The Palais is closed on Tuesdays and stays open until midnight on Thursdays.
Look for
Perto do Coração Selvagem (2025)
Look for the newest work, from the Trouxa series: fabric stitched and bound together with rope, beads and lace.
Torção (2004)
The earliest named work, a twist of fabric held in shape by metal wire, from the start of the twenty years the show covers.
Magia (2014)
From the Pano series, fabrics stitched and bound into one piece; it is the lead image the museum chose for the show.
Good for
- Evening Visits
Also at Palais de Tokyo
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Image credits
9
- Wild HeartCourtesy of Palais de Tokyo
- Florian Krewer: woven thinCourtesy of Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)
- Kerry James Marshall: The HistoriesCourtesy of Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)
- Simone Fattal: Des villes au fond d'un lacPhoto : François Doury © Adagp, Paris, 2026
- Palais de TokyoGuilhem Vellut via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)Lustucrucaca / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Musée du quai Branly - Jacques ChiracJean-Pierre Dalbera, CC BY 2.0
- Grand PalaisȘtefan Jurcă / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Musée de l'Armée (Les Invalides)xiquinhosilva from Cacau / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0