Sofía Ognjenovich Vaz

Artist, author and designer born in 1988.
Master of Arts in Fashion, Royal College of Art, UK.
Founder and designer at Autora Vaz.
Lives and works in Montevideo, Uruguay.


“Sofía Ognjenovich Vaz’s work unfolds at the crossroads of text, drawing, the body, and the textile object. Her pieces begin in writing and in line, and take shape as soft sculptures that wrap, unsettle, or accompany. They are relational objects that drift away from the body and return to it: jellyfish, pillows, thorns, embraces.

That axis —the body and what dresses it— anchors both her artistic practice and her project Autora Vaz, a sustainable label where she develops biodegradable, vegan, and compostable garments made from low-impact fibers and dyed with natural pigments.

Her practice also extends into writing: Becoming an orphan is a book in which she interlaces memory, clothing, and intimate narratives.”

Araceli Pourcel

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BECOMING AN ORPHAN

Montevideo, Uruguay
2020-2024Performance / Book

Garments, hangers, suitcase, paper. 
Duration variable.
Book: Hardcover, 128 pages, 120 x 200 cm

This work investigates the meaning embedded in our most intimate objects: clothing. In 2020, during the pandemic and as my mother’s illness progressed, I compulsively bought garments, as if trying to shield myself with layers of fabric. I wrote down the expectations and fantasies I projected onto each piece and compared them with the relationship I ultimately formed with them.

The initial presentation was a performance in which I interacted with the audience, sharing some of these stories while the garments hung on a rack. Each piece carried a tag; when scanned, it played the corresponding narrated text.

In 2024 it was published as a novel, preserving the original visual language and catalogue-like spirit. I recycled the eighty shopping bags I had saved and turned them into eighty handmade bookmarks inscribed with passages from the book.

Performance at Pensión Cultural Milán, 2021
Published by Editorial Encuentros, 2024

Video documentation

©Sofía Ognjenovich, 2025. All rights reserved.