Adriana Gómez

Herencias 2 materializes the complex interplay of inheritance and otherness as a relational object that bridges intimacy and distance. Composed of two distinct yet interconnected bulbous forms linked by an extended, sinuous tube, the piece extends laterally and refuses a singular focal point or orientation. Its structure distributes presence and weight evenly, guiding attention along a continuous path that emphasizes connection without collapse. The composition reads as an uninterrupted field of relations, where each segment responds to and sustains the next.

Adriana Gómez uses multiple techniques and processes to create her jewelry. This work is characterized by rich material contrasts and tactile complexity. Crocheted chaguar fibres and old thread form soft, porous volumes that suggest organic or bodily presences, their hand-worked texture inviting touch while revealing the labor of construction. These are juxtaposed with hand-modeled ceramic elements that introduce solidity and fragility, anchored by sterling silver components that provide precise structural and visual punctuation. The long knitted conduit flexes and shifts, its flexibility contrasting with the denser ceramic and metallic accents. This hybrid assembly of textile softness, ceramic permanence, and silver luminosity creates a dynamic object that feels both intimate and expansive, accumulative in its layered construction.

Symbolically, Herencias 2 embodies central themes in Gómez’s practice. As a contemporary jeweler based in Buenos Aires, with a background in psychology and psychoanalysis, the artist views jewelry as an act of enunciation. It is an articulation of identity formed through relationship to the other.

The Herencias series explores the multiple women inhabiting a single self, particularly in domains of sexuality, motherhood, and desire. The paired forms evoke inherited voices and bodily legacies, while the connecting tube suggests the transmission and flow of memory across generations. The porous, crocheted surfaces visually enact the concept of Otredad fagocitada (Absorbed Otherness), illustrating the Latin American risk of unity that absorbs difference, potentially erasing the very others it seeks to embrace.

The work thus operates as a site of negotiation between inclusion and exclusion as well as the self and other. Its hybrid language of where textile yields to ceramic, and silver delineates boundaries mirrors the logic of difference that both unites and segregates. Rather than resolving these tensions, Gómez allows meaning to circulate across the object’s surfaces, deferring singular interpretation in favor of ongoing relational dialogue. Herencias 2 transforms personal and cultural inheritances into a tangible form that resists dissolution, inviting sustained reflection on how identity is continually rewritten through encounter with the other.

Sources

Gómez, A. (n.d.). Adriana Gomez [Artist profile]. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://www.joyeros-argentinos.com.ar/artistas/adriana-gomez/

Slovenian Jewelry Week. (n.d.). Adriana Gomez [Portfolio]. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://slovenianjewelryweek.com/portfolio/adriana-gomez-argentina/