Woman in Bronze

Sonia Payes made the work as a meditation on motherhood, regeneration and our fragile place in nature. Two profiles share one hollow form, carrying the features of her daughters Ilana and Janine, and a fracture opens at the crown, suggesting both breaking and birth.

Its smooth lines echo moving water, and the 7 mm silicon bronze reflects light and its surroundings. It was exhibited in Venice during the 2024 Biennale.

Sonia Payes is an Australian visual artist who, over the last twenty years, has fused her foundational analogue photographic practice with digital and sculptural forms. She has worked across Australia and internationally, including a solo exhibition at The Urban Planning Exhibition Centre in Shanghai and a two-month residency at the studio of Shen Shaomin in rural Beijing.

All works by Sonia Payes