Born: 1985 in Pedrera, Seville
Profession: Artist
Laura Segura Gómez first came to prominence in 2022 with her exhibition “Desenvuelto en la envoltura” (Unwrapped from the Wrapping). Hosted in the Attic Room of the Palace of the Counts of Gabia in Granada, where she resides, the show featured three large-scale sculptural installations. These works, crafted from natural materials like beeswax, thread, and wood, evoked themes of roots, intimacy, and our deep connection to the landscape, both through their forms and their inherent materials.
A graduate of Fine Arts from the Alonso Cano Faculty in Granada, where she also completed a Master’s degree in art production and research, Segura Gómez has held numerous solo exhibitions. These include shows at Palacio del Almirante, Cocorocó, Centro de Arte Rey Chico, Arrabal & Cía, and Menfis Gallery (Granada); 41 m2 gallery in Jaén; Marquesa Gallery in Madrid; and in Doña Mencía (Córdoba). Her participation in collective exhibitions has taken her to prestigious venues such as the Museo Memoria de Andalucía, Sala Gran Capitán, Hospital Real, and Palacio de La Madraza (Granada); MECA. Mediterráneo Centro Artístico (Almería); MAD in Antequera; the Real Alcázar of Seville; and most recently, the IVAM in Valencia.
Over the past decade, Laura has received several significant accolades, including the Alonso Cano Prize for sculpture, the University of Granada Award for artistic and scientific creation, the D-Mencia Prize, the Granada Provincial Council’s Award for artistic creation, and the Camprovinarte Art Encounter Prize. She has also undertaken artistic residencies at various institutions, such as alRaso in the Lecrín Valley, Fundación Huerta de los Frailes (Carchelejo, Jaén), Fundación Valparaíso in Mojácar, Fundación Silos, Valdelarte Art and Nature Center (Huelva), and Centre d’Art Terres de l’Ebre-Lo Pati in Tarragona.
Laura Segura Gómez’s work is notable for its profound emphasis on nature as the primordial source and space of human life. Through this lens, she explores the simple and essential elements that permeate our daily existence, revealing their potential for transcendent meaning.
Laura recalls her early vocation for creation, which emerged from playing with the natural world around her: “From childhood, I remember playing with earth, branches, leaves… I was fortunate to grow up in direct contact with nature. I was a very curious child, always questioning a thousand things. My father worked in a quarry, and whenever I could, I would go with him to collect stones and different types of earth. I spent hours playing, feeling free, building, and inventing new things. In a way, that’s exactly what I continue to do today: explore, investigate, and create.”
These formative experiences with natural materials remain at the core of her creative work, which, as mentioned, delves into the exploration of our origins. She reinterprets nature through the five senses: “My artistic research revolves around the concept of origin and our profound relationship with nature. The pieces highlight the creative process as a living reality, where matter, time, and gesture construct meaning. Through scent, touch, and color, I seek to evoke a primal connection between human beings and the earth.”
“Through scent, touch, and color, I seek to evoke a primal connection between human beings and the earth.”
In line with her artistic philosophy, Segura Gómez’s manual practices follow unhurried rhythms. She often devises large-scale installations that profoundly transform their exhibition spaces: “I work with natural materials, which leads me to slow, meditative, and deeply artisanal processes. It’s important to me that each piece retains a direct connection to its origin and to respected time, which is why the techniques follow the rhythms of the material and the creative process itself. I try to work as nature does, not to imitate it; this connects me to a more spiritual plane, where nature itself remains the medium.”
“Regarding formats, they are highly variable, though the challenges that most attract me are large-scale pieces. Among these are the grand sphere from “Desenvuelto de la envoltura,” two and a half meters in diameter, or “Una trenza de hierba sagrada” (A Braid of Sacred Grass), approximately fifteen meters in length, among others. This type of work allows me to explore the relationship between the body, space, and dimensions, pushing both the material and the creative gesture to their limits.”
Her inspirations stem less from other artists and more from Eastern thought and direct observation of the environment: “My main influences come from nature, not with the intention of imitating it, but of understanding its processes. Various Eastern philosophies and spiritual currents also influence my work, offering a more contemplative and conscious perspective on the creative process. These references help me connect with a deeper dimension of making, where not only the result but also the entire process is important. That’s why, in many of my installations, the pieces are accompanied by video art documenting their construction process; for me, it’s an extension of the work, almost like a performance. In this way, past and present merge.”
Discussing her main projects to date, Laura begins with the one exhibited in the Sala Condes de Gabia: ““Desenvuelto de la envoltura” comprised two installations: a 250-centimeter sphere, crafted from thread with virgin beeswax and natural red pigment, positioned opposite a 250-centimeter circle installation made with the same materials. The exhibition was completed by a third installation of giant needles made from various woods, a poem by María Luisa García Ochoa, and a video documenting the waxed thread production process.”
““Unwrapping the Wrapping” means embracing the origin, the core, the root, the intimate. The sphere serves as a container of life and a form that accompanies all living beings. The two minimalist, large-scale sculptural installations engage in a dialogue with each other, and in turn, prompt a dialogue between spectators and the exhibition space. The works appeal to all five senses, inviting the public to explore a journey where touch, color, and scent are the essence of the artistic medium, alluding to the diverse experiences the natural world can offer humanity through matter. The point where art merges with architecture creates a platform for interaction between visitors and the environment, through their bodily sensitivity.”
Her work, Una trenza de hierba sagrada (A Braid of Sacred Grass), constructed with strands and warps, was presented at the Calles en Flor Festival in Cañete de las Torres, curated by Blanca de la Torre, and has since been acquired by the IVAM museum.
This motif, rich in historical and cultural symbolism, was woven from sisal extracted from the Agave sisalana, a plant native to Yucatán, Mexico. Its Latin name derives from Greek mythology, where Ágave was one of the nymphs in Dionysus’s retinue.
The spiritual implications of braiding are manifold: it connects to the strength derived from unity, ancestral rites on both sides of the Atlantic, the intertwining of stories, and collectivity. It also alludes to the well-known Grimm’s fairy tale Rapunzel, where the protagonist’s hair served as an element of escape and a lifeline.
This year, under the curatorship of Sema D ́Acosta, she presented the exhibition “Musitar” (To Whisper) at Marquesa Gallery: ““Musitar” alludes to the act of whispering, of speaking softly. The title primarily refers to the intimate relationship the pieces propose with those who contemplate them: a close, discreet communication that occurs without stridency. An invitation to pause and listen. But “Musitar” also speaks of time. Of the unhurried rhythm of making, of the work’s inherent tempo and that of the materials. It’s a slow and reflective way of working, where each gesture unfolds calmly, as if the materials themselves were whispering during the process. Listening to them, allowing them to guide the way, working in a manner similar to nature: without urgency, respecting the cycles and necessary times.”
“This practice is built upon two fundamental pillars. On one hand, the use of natural materials like porcelain, beeswax, wood, or wool. Each possesses its own symbolic charge and sensory qualities—texture, scent, fragility, warmth—which are essential to the work. On the other hand, the relevance of the creative process itself. A slow, conscious, almost ritualistic process, based on trust and attention. Time is not a secondary factor, but an active element that shapes the work and gives it meaning. The pieces comprising this exhibition seek to intertwine nature and spirituality, generating a space for introspection, silence, and presence. More than offering closed answers, they propose an open experience.”
Segura Gómez’s next steps will take her to Málaga: “The next exhibition I have scheduled is a collective one: “A Recent History of Textile Art,” curated by Alicia Ventura at the Museum of Contemporary Art Center (MUCAC).”
