biography

Mariana Sarmiento Cardalda (b. 2001, San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores themes of memory, mortality, identity, and ancestral knowledge through textile-based sculpture and installation. With a background in anthropology, her work draws on traditional techniques such as crochet, knitting, weaving, and metalwork, integrating natural and reclaimed materials selected for their texture, history, and symbolic weight. Sarmiento Cardalda’s art is deeply personal and reflective, emerging from meditative states and an embodied connection to craft, identity, and lived experience.

She is currently completing her BFA in Multidisciplinary Plastic Arts at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Her work has been presented in exhibitions including Guatibiri 2025 and the Sharjah Biennial 16, where she assisted artist Jorge González Santos and the community-based initiative Taller Sol-Lace. She has led and co-facilitated numerous textile workshops in Puerto Rico and internationally, including projects with Fundación Cortés and the Tatsuniya Artist Collective.

Sarmiento Cardalda lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico.