By: Maria Laura Hernandez de Aguero
The Peruvian Pavilion will present “Sara Flores. From Other Worlds,” a solo exhibition by the artist as part of the 61st International Art Exhibition, In Minor Keys.
The selection of works, developed jointly by curators Issela Ccoyllo and Mateo Norzi, includes new large-format paintings on cotton canvas; ethereal, mosquito net-shaped sculptures made from the same material and hand-painted, Untitled (The Designs Come in Dreams); and her 2025 debut film, Non Nete (A Flag for the Shipibo Nation), which depicts a hand-painted flag waving in the wind to the rhythm of a soft melody. This is a recording of a shaman blowing good intentions into an ayahuasca bottle at the beginning of a journey to other worlds and, in parallel, a journey for the self-determination of the Indigenous Nation.
The common thread throughout the exhibition is the kené, the enigmatic design system of the Shipibo-Konibo people, which Flores has elevated to an unprecedented level of sophistication, power, vibration, and conceptual and political depth. Through this body of work, Sara Flores creates portals between ancestral knowledge and a sustainable future, interconnecting human and non-human life as part of a single living entity.
In a country where the Indigenous experience continues to be marked by discrimination and cultural appropriation, Flores's work carries a clear and political weight. Her work is not just art: it is identity and commitment. Sara has a very clear ideal: “I want to share a message of resistance. That Indigenous peoples still exist, that our culture is alive, and that our artistic expressions are contemporary.”
International Art Exhibition, In Minor Keys, which will be open to the public from May 9 to November 22, 2026.