Artist Sara Flores (born 1950) belongs to the Shipibo-Conibo (or Shipibo Konibo) nation, a Peruvian Indigenous people dating back several millennia, and residing along the Ucayali River - stretching more than 900 miles and considered to be the primary headwater tributary of the Amazon. It encompasses more than 300,000 square kilometers of rainforest.

In addition to being renowned plant medicine healers and Shamanic spiritualists, the Shipibo-Conibo are recognized as a profoundly matriarchal society, whose women have a tradition of making strikingly bold and intricate geometric art (check out this short video for insights into the enigmatic healing powers of Shipibo designs). The work Flores creates is particularly breathtaking - though sadly she had to wait until she was more than 70 years old to gain the proper recognition for it. But signed to the venerable White Cube gallery (they have locations in London, Paris, New York, Seoul and Hong Kong) in 2023, her status has risen expediently and considerably.

Indeed, she was chosen for the Dior Lady Art Project in 2024, collaborating with the fashion giant on a pair of stunningly realized handbags. Then in 2025 she became the first woman to be given a solo show at Lima's MALI Museum.

Now she is representing her country in the Peru Pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale - as well as opening her first NYC solo exhibit at White Cube on June 25.

That her large scale canvases are hanging in Venice's Arsenale, a once mighty military complex dating to the 12th Century but now a major exhibition space, creates a striking contrast - as her delicate patterns are cast against a background of austere grey concrete, and flooded with light shining through immense factory-style windows. It inspires nothing less than quiet awe and contemplation, whilst also most certainly encouraging consideration of how centuries and cultures can be crossed to inspire profound new visual juxtapositions.

In contrast, White Cube offers as opportunity to see her work within, as the name suggests, mostly stark white space. This makes the patterns seem to veritably leap out, as in the case of 'Untitled (Kanoa Kené 2, 2019)' 2019, or conversely draw the eye in, as with 'Untitled (Pei Maya Kené, 2025)', 2025, both created using vegetal dyes on wild-cotton canvas. In fact, Flores's creative process is tied directly to the land, sourcing materials as she does from plants/botanicals, river clays, and leaves/fruits, to produce unique dyes that draw upon the history and psychic essence of the natural world of the Ucayali.

Most joyfully, perhaps the newfound recognition has even helped to bring her family closer together. As she recently told Ocula magazine, “At some points in my life, my daughters [Deysi and Pilar] have rejected their identity." Yet now they both, as well as Sara's two granddaughters Diana and Fiorella, are proudly and fully sharing in the craft and tradition with her. Fittingly, then, Flores' White Cube exhibition is titled 'Akinananti', which roughly translates from the Shipibo-Konibo language as "work that is done together with joy."

'Akinananti' is on view at White Cube in New York City through August 14.

(All images courtesy of White Cube)