Brooklyn-based sculptor Diana Sofia Lozano plants the “language of botanical hybrids” into the foundation of her work.

The artist explains the language as something encompassing the imagined, the natural, and the modified.

Born in Cali, Colombia to two botanists, Lozano’s path has always seemed wreathed in plants

Today, the floral sculptures Lozano crafts are rich in character and tall in stature. Colorful, defined and abstract, these floral designs come together to form expressive, plantlike creatures.

In the grander scheme, the artist’s work promotes identity construction at the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race. 

Wielding biomimicry as a metaphor for this identity construction, Lozano’s work is interested in botanical taxonomic failures, and how they uncover and redefine the boundaries of both colonial identificatory practices and geopolitical borders.

As noted by Art News, Lozano’s work challenges biological classification by questioning the Linnaean system.

The Linnaean system of Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus views plants in numerous gendered and heteronormative characterizations.

Instead, Lozano moves forward under recent botany and ecology research based on theories that plants’ gender identities and propagation methods are less restrictive than Linnaeus once proposed.

Installations and other works

Lozano’s work includes exhibitions such as it clings like a leech and Suspended in the Iris.  

Lozano has also exhibited other work at venues such as  Los Angeles’ New Image Art, and Casa Prado in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Online exhibition it clings like a leech showcased the work of many alongside Lozano.

The installation was composed of enlisted artists Cameron Clayborn, Kevin Hernández Rosa, Amina Ross, Audrey Ryan, and Lozano.

The team, all MFA Candidates in Sculpture, worked on the installation together, which ultimately represented an aimed rejection of hierarchization.

A Yale School of Art Graduate Thesis Show, designers Avery Youngblood and Luiza Dale were joined by a writing team of eight.

The writing team included Alex Fialho, Josie Roland Hodson, Tobi Kassim, Nora Mitchell Rosengarten, Rachel Mei Ling Tang, Alexandra M. Thomas, Jacinda Tran,  and Joseph Zordan.

Suspended in the Iris was an installation exhibited in the Lower East Side of Manhattan between June and July of 2021. 

The installation — a single image framed within a 87-by-87-inch window display — had more explicitly featured Lozano’s floral designs.

The large-scale single frame work held intricacies in its design only seen with a closer look.

Braided, intertwined metal, wool, clay and other materials had formed the meticulous and kaleidoscopic work.

In displaying this many-hued and mosaic-like work, Lozano speaks through a grand presentation to display the understanding of plants’ identities as non-restrictive.

Merde! at the Alyssa David Gallery Gala

Lozano’s most upcoming event is Merde! at the Alyssa Davis Gallery Gala in Brooklyn. This event will feature music and an art auction including Lozano and many other artists.

Music from Eartheater, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, and other acts included. A formal dress code is required. 

The event is on May 26 from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. EST. An exhibition preview will take place between 8 - 10 p.m. EST.

The Alyssa Davis Gallery is located at 99 Scott Street  in Brooklyn, New York.