Sula Bermúdez-Silverman

Sula Bermúdez-Silverman’s work interrogates the systems that shape social life, engaging with economic, racial, religious, and gendered structures of power. Her recent sculptures address the origins of global trade, early forms of commodification, and the hierarchies embedded within these exchanges, using materials that reference various forms of transaction—from the spread of disease to the circulation of folktales that have shaped regional identities. Working primarily in sculpture, Bermúdez-Silverman employs diverse media including sugar, salt, glass, resin, found objects, and human hair, occasionally extending her practice into video. Her works often remain intentionally open-ended, allowing viewers to determine what aspects resonate with their own experiences. This openness is coupled with rigorous research into mythological and historical narratives, which she translates into material form. Motifs such as the “ball and claw” are transformed through shifts in scale, color, and translucency, while objects like peepholes—cast in uranium or tinted glass—serve as contained spaces for cultural lore tied to viruses, symbolic animals, or trade routes. The responsive qualities of these materials, such as glass that changes color under different lighting, acknowledge both the histories of resource extraction and the desirability of rare elements. Across her practice, thresholds—windows, staircases, saddles—function as connectors between disparate systems of knowledge, revealing how history embeds itself into the subconscious. ...