Apsara is proud to present ‘Untamed’ by Julia Padilla. Born and based in Argentina, Padilla works with sculpture, drawing and performance to explore how materials can shift, transform and acquire new identities and properties. Often working with discarded objects, organic remnants and synthetic elements, she assembles hybrid configurations that evoke a feeling of estrangement. Equally, in her drawings she merges imagery from nature, fashion and mythology, working intuitively to access a space where conscious and unconscious images overlap.

‘Untamed’ stems from her ongoing research into London’s buried rivers, focusing on the Fleet and the Effra. During her residency at Gasworks a few months ago, Padilla walked along their former courses, tracing waterways that continue to flow beneath the streets despite having disappeared from the visible landscape. How does a river manifest itself when it can no longer be seen? This question guided a process of walking, collecting, drawing, filming, and making sculptures. She approached the river as a living system that carries objects, sediments, memories, myths, and fragments from different periods. The description of the Effra as “Untamed”, a river that can never be fully contained, became the conceptual framework for the project, and a way of thinking about everything that persists even when it is no longer visible.

For this new iteration of the project, Padilla extends her research through a newly developed body of work produced in response to the gallery space. The show will be accompanied by a newly commissioned text by curator María Montero, alongside a programme of workshops.

Stay tuned!

Julia Padilla (b. Buenos Aires, 1991) lives and works in Buenos Aires. Solo exhibitions in Buenos Aires include Insecta, Centro Cultural Recoleta (2024); La larva y el pantano, Fundación Andreani (2022); Pariente, Fundación El Mirador (2021). Recent group exhibitions include Soberania de las cosas, Palacio Libertad, Buenos Aires; Even the Apocalypse is Fleeting, Quimera Gallery, Buenos Aires (both 2025); Sé del miedo cuando digo mi nombre, Linse Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Drawing is Creating Worlds, Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires (both 2024). She has participated in workshops with Ernesto Ballesteros, José Luis Landet, Nicanor Araoz and Flavia da Rin, and has taken part in the training programs Hito Cultural, Artistas x Artistas and PAC.