Sònia Gardés is a visual and performance artist working on the intersections between visual and performance art, both working on her own creations as well as supporting other companies. Her academic and creative research focuses on the impacts of the patriarchy, how history builds our contemporary experiences and the exploration for more sustainable practices.

She graduated in Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona after having studied Costume Design and Making on her Erasmus at the Nottingham Trent University. It was then in Scotland where she trained in visual and object theatre as well as contemporary puppetry with several artists including Mervyn Millar (Handspring Puppets, Significant Object), Olivier Ducas (La Pire Espèce) o Dalija Acin Thelander, amongst others. In the UK, she worked with artists and companies such as Gavin Glover (Potato Room, Faulty Optic), Vision Mechanics and the National Theatre of Qatar. She has been a resident artist at the National Theatre of Scotland, the Village Storytelling Festival and the Alden Biesen International Storytelling Festival, as well as perforforming her shows at international festivals such as the Edinburgh Children’s Festival, Manipulate Festival and the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival.

In Spain, Sònia Gardés has premiered her show What I Know (about what my Grandfather didn’t know), with the script writing and direction assistance by Marta Aran, and she has worked on the puppet design and making for Himmelweg, by Atrium Escena Digital, directed by Raimon Molins.

The artist is currently working both in creation and research projects. She has recently presented her dissertation Puppets, contemporaneity and dramaturgy. A comparative study between the United Kingdom and Catalonia for her Masters in Cultural Management at the Open University of Catalunya (UOC) and the University of Girona. She also works as an associate professor at the University of Barcelona.