Fabric has always been central to Gomes’s personal history. The artist was born and raised in Caetanópolis, a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, known for its textile industry. Before she began making sculptures, Gomes would mend and alter her clothing and jewelry, combining pieces and adding adornments in ways utterly distinct from the styles at the time. 

In her recent series Tear (Loom), Gomes uses the square loom as a framing device and support while diverging from the strict linear nature of traditional weaving. In this work, a lace doily is stretched across the lower right corner of the loom, while white threads stretch between nails like a spiderweb over a painting of a bird in flight in the background.