SAGRADO POP: Everyday Devotion in the Work of María Mercedes Sánchez

María Lightowler - Agosto 2025

In Sagrado Pop, artist María Mercedes Sánchez, a native of Bucaramanga, takes us on a journey that merges the popular with the sacred, revealing a sense of everyday spirituality that permeates every aspect of her work. The exhibition presents a selection of works offering a deep look into her evolving artistic practice—both conceptually and materially. Through a rich and complex weaving of religious iconography and pop culture, Sánchez constructs a visual narrative that challenges conventional notions of the sacred.

Sánchez’s work is distinguished by its multidisciplinary approach, where collage, dioramas, and installations—often incorporating light and sound—become stages for dialogue between kitsch and the transcendent. Drawing inspiration from visual ethnographies and the aesthetics of the provisional, the artist uses materials such as printed paper and cut-out acetates to create postmodern altars, where digital ex-votos coexist with neon signs and advertising rhetoric. These elements form a visual language that exposes the dialectic between the ephemeral and the enduring.

A central element of the exhibition is the installation Virgen de la Arepa (Virgin of the Arepa), which reimagines Marian iconography through everyday Colombian symbols. With pieces like this, Sánchez not only revisits the past but reinterprets it—incorporating elements of popular culture that reflect contemporary devotion. The artist invites us to question the meaning of holiness in a world where the ordinary and the extraordinary are in constant interaction.

The exhibition also includes a participatory dimension, seeking to engage the public and encourage their connection with the work, fostering a broader understanding of the themes explored. The reference to pop art is evident in the repetition of images, which appears in the triads where two-dimensional works evolve into three-dimensional dioramas and sculptural objects.

Sagrado Pop offers a chance to discover the voice of an artist exploring a wide range of supports, materials, media, and techniques in order to create work that feels close and accessible. Her art transcends specific religions or belief systems, evoking a devotional sensibility in a world that is often chaotic and hostile. Through humor and love, playfulness and history, her work celebrates Colombia’s diversity and invites viewers to find the divine in the interstices of the everyday. In this context, pop culture becomes a bridge between the sacred and the profane, allowing Sánchez to explore how mysticism and devotion manifest in contemporary life.

Ultimately, Sagrado Pop reminds us that faith and desire are powerful forces in our search for meaning. The exhibition invites reflection on the power of art to transform the everyday into a space of contemplation and spiritual connection—challenging our perception of the sacred in modernity.

María Lightowler – August 2025