Sara Quintero. On the margins

From 12 September to 10 January 2026, at the ABC Museum, Sara Quintero will be presenting an exhibition exploring the philosophical concept of the 'shipwreck with spectator,' key to understanding the moral dilemma it poses.

This latest exhibition, curated by Óscar Alonso Molina, marks the return of Fundación Colección ABC to the subject of contemporary drawing, an endeavour the Foundation had to put on hold five years ago due to changes at the ABC Museum. 

Sara Quintero (Madrid, 1971) uses images, techniques and forms that we associate with the art of the past, using them to address current political and social issues with a deep critical content. As a result, her work is both beautiful and unsettling for the viewer, when they discover her art requires an ethical response, not just an aesthetic or emotional one; they are called on to take a stance.

Her drawing is based on images from Art History that the artist mixes using digital programmes. She then layers further artistic intervention on the printed image to finish the piece, closing the cycle so the layers become indistinguishable as they merge.

For this exhibition, Sara Quintero presents a series of visual reports focused on the tragedy experienced by migrants today on the shores of the Mediterranean. In it, elements of documentary and journalistic language come together with the epic and idealised vision of death and shipwreck offered by tradition.

Image credits:

Sara Quintero. Detail of Shipwreck on a Rocky Coast, 2020. Digital print and graphite on paper. © Sara Quintero, VEGAP, Madrid, 2025.