Biography

Sonia was born in Salvador, Brazil, in 1961. She grew up in Rio de Janeiro and studied Architecture at the local School of Architecture and Urbanism (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and began her art studies at the Modern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro. She attended art classes at the School of Visual Arts of Parque Lage and private art studios.

After graduating she persued a career as an architect, working with urban issues. From 1989 to 1994 she was the technical director of the Rio de Janeiro based NGO Institute of Technology for the Citizen, focusing on the sustainable urban environment.

Between 1994 and 1999 she helped to coordinate The United Nation´s Local Initiatives for the Urban Environment Program in Brazil. At the turn of the century she decided to move on again to start off, along with her husband, a Consulting firm to work with Marketing Intelligence and territory analysis, helping corporations to understand their outside business and to create new scenarios.

While working with territory analysis and coordinating a group of geographers and urbanists she developed a growing interest in the connection between maps and art. So she decided it was time to reinvent herself and become fully an artist.

Sonia is co-founder of the internatonal art network Urban Dialogues and takes part in the study group Analysis and Insertion of the Contemporary Art Production oriented by Iole de Freitas at the Visual Arts School of Parque Lage. She lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.