That dress you’re wearing? It’s saying something. Artist Irma Sofia Poeter explains how in a new exhibit.
Irma Sofia Poeter weaves her personal history, border identity and political concerns into a language of cloth. Growing up between Mexico and the United States, she turned an early love of drawing and an architecture background into a practice that treats textiles as both material and story.
The current show, A‑Dress: Power and Belief, opens at San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery and treats the dress as a sculptural second skin. Through dresses, capes and soft sculptures the exhibition asks how clothing can voice questions of identity, power, resistance and inclusion.
Poeter’s work blends discarded fabrics with richly embroidered textiles from around the world. Her collage‑construction method creates complex three‑dimensional pieces that reference everything from traditional Mexican huipils to military uniforms. In the piece Three Disgraces, three dogs fashioned from men’s suits, military gear and jeans comment on the pressures women face when entering male‑dominated fields.
Other works such as Baby Venus re‑imagine classic forms to explore the potential and burden placed on female identity from birth. The artist’s own experience of transformation—from a conservative early life to a self‑defined creative path—drives the emotional core of the show.
Living and working between San Diego and Tecate, Poeter has built a studio she calls Arcadia, a personal utopia where she continues to experiment with hand‑sewn garments and collaborative workshops. Her practice invites viewers to consider the stories stitched into the fabrics we wear every day.