Laura Sanchez Filomeno
Laura Sánchez Filomeno (Peru, b. 1975) works evoke natural history collections and scientific inventories while questioning systems of categorization and control. Influenced by the Baroque tradition and its fascination with illusion and transformation, she uses hair as a material that is at once intimate and unsettling, revealing the fragile relationship between life, memory, and mortality.
Central to her practice is an interest in classification, collecting, and the creation of imagined taxonomies. Combining hair, shells, gold leaf, stainless steel, and magnifying lenses, Sánchez Filomeno constructs hybrid objects that blur the boundaries between nature and artifact.
Sánchez Filomeno holds a doctorate and a master's degree from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Recent solo exhibitions include Taxinomie at the Orangerie de Cachan, France (2024), and Inventaires at the Village d’Artistes de Rablay-sur-Layon, France (2022). Her work has also been featured in exhibitions at the Maison de l’Amérique Latine, Paris (2024–25), Espace Muraille, Geneva (2025), and Het Perron Cultural Center, Ypres (2024). Her work has been widely published in major surveys dedicated to contemporary textile and fiber art.
Gorgonia Ventalina (from the series Nautilus), 2026
Stainless steel, human hair, magnifying glass
12 x 6 x 10 cm | 4.7 × 2.4 × 3.9 in
Micro-organisme II (from the series Nautilus), 2022
Stainless steel, human hair, magnifying glass
9 x 9 x 13 cm | 3.5 × 3.5 × 5.1 in
Comprising multiple works of varying dimensions, the Nautilus series reflects Sánchez Filomeno’s enduring fascination with cabinets of curiosities and the Baroque tradition. Combining natural hair, silk, mother-of-pearl shells, gold leaf, bronze supports, and magnifying lenses, the artist creates hybrid objects that appear as newly discovered species, suspended between the organic and the artificial.
In these works, shells are covered with gold leaf that functions as a second skin, concealing the material’s original identity and transforming it into something seemingly precious and unfamiliar. This process of disguise and metamorphosis lies at the core of the series, where appearances challenge assumptions about origin, value, and authenticity.
Each work contains a miniature embroidery made with human hair, often visible only through a magnifying lens. Almost imperceptible to the naked eye, these delicate interventions draw attention to the limits of perception and invite a mode of close observation akin to that of a scientist examining a rare specimen. Through this interplay of concealment and revelation, the series explores themes of knowledge, illusion, and the fragile boundary between nature and artifice.
Proliferaciones III, 2022
Stainless steel, human hair, magnifying glass
12 x 6 x 10 cm | 4.7 × 2.4 × 3.9 in
Proliferaciones XII, 2023
Stainless steel, human hair, magnifying glass
9 x 9 x 13 cm | 3.5 × 3.5 × 5.1 in
Proliferaciones XIII, 2023
Stainless steel, human hair, magnifying glass
12 x 6 x 10 cm | 4.7 × 2.4 × 3.9 in
Inspired by lichens, fungi, and other symbiotic organisms encountered in nature, the Proliferaciones series reflects Sánchez Filomeno’s fascination with biodiversity and the intricate networks through which life develops and expands. Using natural and dyed human hair embroidered onto silk, often presented with magnifying lenses and stainless-steel supports, the artist creates delicate hybrid forms that blur the boundaries between nature and artifact.
Functioning as miniature ecosystems, these works evoke branching structures, filaments, and organic growth patterns that unfold across multiple scales. The magnifying lenses encourage close observation, revealing the fragile complexity of the hair embroideries while drawing attention to the limits of perception. By incorporating human hair—a bodily residue—into compositions inspired by natural systems, Sánchez Filomeno underscores the interconnectedness of humans and the environment, inviting reflection on our place within increasingly vulnerable ecosystems.
Agglomerat I, 2022
Stainless steel, human hair
6 x 4 x 7 cm | 2.4 × 1.6 × 2.8 in
Agglomerat VI, 2024
Stainless steel, human hair
6 x 5 x 9 cm | 2.4 × 2.0 × 3.5 in
Agglomerat IX, 2025
Stainless steel, human hair
5 x 5 x 9 cm | 2.0 × 2.0 × 3.5 in
Agglomerat X 2025
Stainless steel, human hair
5 x 4 x 6 cm | 2.0 × 1.6 × 2.4 in
The Agglomérat series brings together clusters of miniature forms embroidered with natural and dyed human hair on silk and mounted on stainless steel supports. Resembling specimens, seeds, spores, or microscopic organisms, these delicate works reflect Sánchez Filomeno’s ongoing interest in classification, accumulation, and the creation of imagined natural histories.
