Río Sophia

Untitled Drawing Series, 2020-2021, Dimensions Variable (small drawings 9x12 in., medium drawings 20x26 in., large drawing 30x40 in.) Graphite, charcoal, oil stick, acrylic paint, marker on paper. 

1. Sun / Flushed, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

2. Hand Over Yellow Wall, 12 x 9 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

3. Corridor, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

4. Bloated Fingers, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

5. Cloud / Bush, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

6. Hypervigilance, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

7. Chestfeeding, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

8. Sunshower, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

9. Crotch, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

10. Gripping It, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

11. Inside a Moving Body, 12 x 9 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

12. Coiled Snake, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

13. Castration of Uranus / Birth of Venus, 30x40”, Mixed Media on Paper 

14. Therapist’s Prompt, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

15. Baby Food, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

16. Winding Road, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

9

17. Sunset, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

18. Letting Go, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

19. Puberty, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

20. Bullseye, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

21. A Family, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

22. Splayed Out / Diagram, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

23. A Mother, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

24. Stream, 12 x 9 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

25. Looking Inside, 20 x 26 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

26. Self Portrait, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

27. Doodling, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

28. Touching It, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper 

29. Circling, 9 x 12 inches, Mixed Media on Paper

DESCRIPTION

Drawn while: 

in my third year as an arts worker at Queer|Art; 

in my fifth year of therapy; 

in a new global pandemic and uprising for racial justice and Black trans liberation; 

in my first residency; 

making new artist friends; 

my relationships with chosen family deepen; 

my partner and I go off our hormones to try and have a baby together; 

my body, sexuality, and brain chemistry recalibrate again and evolve some more; 

my Saturn return begins; 

I experience new grief and new possibilities.

This collection of new drawings represent the artist’s return to the media from her performance practice. “Abstraction is a really nice place to keep secrets,” Sofia tells me over Zoom as she shows me these playful, energetic compositions. For Sofia, these drawings—thick with recurring limbs and flowers—is a space that feels more private. Through the making of the work, she Upturning influences like Twombly and Wojnarowicz, the drawing suggests portals, alternatives, and a kind of record keeping through change. 

BIO

Río Sophia is a visual artist and organizer. Her recent body of work explores forced feminization porn, a genre that fantasizes about experiencing gender transformation through coercion and loss of control. In 2019, this work was spotlighted in Out Magazine's April and August print issues. She graduated from Cooper Union’s School of Art and is currently the Programs & Operations Director at Queer|Art. As an organizer, Rio co-founded Body Hack, a monthly trans and nonbinary happy hour that also serves as a platform for intracommunal fundraising. She is also developing an online database of trans femme artists, past and present.