Lina Puerta: La Sierpe

Project for Empty Space is pleased to present La Sierpe, a new solo exhibition by Cycle 9 Artist In Residence Lina Puerta, on view September 9, 2026, through January 29, 2027, at Project for Empty Space at 110 Edison Place in Newark, New Jersey. The exhibition will open with a special reception on Wednesday, September 9th, from 6-8pm.

Developed over the course of Puerta’s two-year residency, La Sierpe marks the culmination of an extended period of research, experimentation, and artistic production. Centered on the serpent as an ancient symbol of cyclical time, transformation, and collective renewal, the exhibition invites visitors into an immersive environment where inherited ways of seeing give way to new possibilities for connection. Throughout the exhibition, the serpent serves as both a guide and a guardian, illuminating the relationships among ancestral knowledge, ecological balance, and collective care.

The exhibition debuts a significant new body of work that expands Puerta's ongoing exploration of ancestral knowledge, environmental stewardship, and cultural memory. Featured are recent works from her acclaimed Portales series, which draw upon Indigenous Colombian symbols while incorporating materials associated with Western consumer culture. Through intricate hand stitching, machine sewing, reclaimed food packaging, repurposed textiles, jewelry, and natural materials traditionally associated with adornment and spiritual protection, Puerta creates richly layered works that bridge ancestral traditions and contemporary ecological and social concerns.

At the heart of the exhibition is a monumental 42-foot suspended serpent sculpture. Occupying the gallery as both an architectural intervention and a symbolic presence, the work transforms the space into a site of reflection and passage, inviting viewers to contemplate cycles of resilience, renewal, and collective responsibility. Surrounding this central work are additional woven works created both independently by the artist and through collaborative processes. Throughout the exhibition, Puerta incorporates colorful woven produce bags—ubiquitous throughout much of the Global South—as a recurring material. These everyday objects form the body of the monumental serpent sculpture and are woven into the quilted tapestry that drapes the windows of the sun-filled gallery, transforming familiar materials into symbols of interconnection and cross-cultural collective experience.

La Sierpe is the culminating exhibition of Puerta’s participation in the PES Artist In Residence Program, a two-year residency that provides artists with sustained support for ambitious creative research, experimentation, and community engagement. By fostering meaningful dialogue between artists and the public, the program encourages the development of new work that addresses urgent social, cultural, and environmental issues. Puerta’s exhibition exemplifies the transformative possibilities of long-term artistic inquiry and institutional support.