Sylvia Tenenbaum (b. 1965, Guatemala City) operates at the intersection of material structure and historical memory.
Born into a family immersed in the textile industry and the shadow of the Guatemalan Civil War, Tenenbaum developed a practice where the thread functions as both a line of text and a method of survival. Her background is distinctively non-linear: armed with a BA in Hispanic Literature and a technical foundation in Fashion Design (New York), she approaches Fine Art not as an image-maker, but as a builder of narratives. She deconstructs the "garment"—the second skin of the human—to reconstruct the "map"—the skin of the territory.
Tenenbaum’s work investigates the vulnerability of geography. Inventing a technique of "textile mosaic," she sutures thousands of fragments of worn clothing to create aerial cartographies of post-conflict zones. Her major works include PALOPÓ (London Design Biennale), a communal intervention into identity; Weaving Geographies, a material archive of the Ixil and Quiché genocides; and Lo Innombrable, a cartographic memorial to the Holocaust exhibited in Guatemala City. In her hands, the act of sewing is elevated from domestic craft to a ritual of social repair.
Tenenbaum lives and works in Guatemala City, where she continues to push the textile medium toward the architectural and the sacred.
artwork
EXHIBITIONS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
"Lo Innombrable, El memorial de las víctimas del Holocausto”, El Museo del Holocausto Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Permanent Collection.
2018
"Territorios personales", Sol del Río, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Prayer rug series: "On top of the clouds" y "All beyond", Tejidos de Memoria , Sol del Rio, Guatemala City , Guatemala
2025
Land Art El Arreciado, “Infinitas Infinitos”, Land Art y -esquila de lana, acción site specific, Toledo, España
“Weaving commitments”, Volcano summit, Antigua Guatemala, September, Communal workshop
Trazos Cartográficos “Weaving Geographies”, Cartografias de la guerra fría en Guatemala , Sol del Rio, Guatemala City, Guatemala
“La silla antigueña”, La red materia, Antigua Guatemala
2024
“Silent Witness”, CASA_Aristolochia, Guatemala City, Guatemala
2023
”Gone Beyond”; “Raining Down”, Corporal.Natural.Celestial, SLATOPARRA Gall Miami, U.S.
2022
“Palopó”, Museo Ixchel, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Colectiva dependencia independencia 4, “Universo Celestial”, Sol del Río, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
“Estudios de Mapas Aéreos”, Heritages Et Syncretisme, SLATOPARRA Gallery, Paris, France.
2021
“Sr. Presidente”, Antónimos Umbrales, Galerias Tiffany, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
“Vuelo”, Equinox Contemporary Women’s Art Exhibit, Art City Gallery, Ventura California.
“Xquiq-Santa Maria de Nebaj”, Equinox, Contemporary Women’s Art Exhibit, Art City Gallery, Ventura California.
2020
“Sr. Presidente”, Video, WTA Pre Bienal Online, Chile
“Lo Innombrable, El memorial de las víctimas del Holocausto”, El Museo del Holocausto Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2017
"dependencia independencia 4", Sol del Río, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
"En sus zapatos", Galería Ana Lucía Gomez, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2016
"Weaving Geographies - With Monika Bravo", Arthill Gallery, London, England.
"dependencia independencia 3", Sol del Río, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2015
“The other Art Fair”, London, England.
“Caleidoscopio”, Galería del Centro de Fundacion G&t Continental, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2014
"De Corazón", Galería del Centro de Fundación G&t Continental, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2013
"Vivir de Corazón", Museo Ixchel del Traje Indigena, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2017
World Textile Art Bienal, Uruguay.
2018
London Design Biennale, Guatemala pavilion, UK.
Winner of the London Design Biennale 2018 PUBLIC MEDAL voted for by the visitors
“Women weavers:The warp of memory”, Ideobox Artspace, Miami, Fl.
COLLECTIONS
Marriott Courtyard Lobby and Business Center Collection, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Casa de Dios Collection, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Integra Medical Center, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Avita - Torre Centro, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Avita - torre quinta , Guatemala City, Guatemala
Casa Gabriel-Kummerfeld, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Edificio Beitá, Centro Histórico Zona 1, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Casa la chula Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
Casa Habie, Guatemala City, Guatemala
biennial
2025
“Cuerpo en erupción”, XI WTA Biennal, Miami FL
2024
“ Q”uq”umatz (Gucumatz)-San Juan Cotzal-The plumed quetzal-Feathered Serpent, The 15th intl. Biennial Contemporary Textile & Fiber Art, Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine
2018
“PALOPO”, London Design Biennale, Guatemala Pavillion, London, UK.
Winner of the London Design Biennale 2018 PUBLIC MEDAL voted for by the visitors
2017
“Tierra Fertil “, WTA VII Biennial, Montevideo, Uruguay.
residencies
2021
Fiber Residency Program, The Thread Caravan, Oaxaca, México
2025
JOTA Scholar/Artist Fellowship , Maurice and Marilyn Cohen center for modern jewish studies, Brandis University