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Sophia Stopper (they/she) is a visual artist, poet, educator, and curator. They received their MFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and their BFA in Studio Art from New York University. Sophia has held positions as Curator at the Bridgeport Art Center (Chicago, US),  Exhibitions Coordinator at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts (Reading, US), and Co-Director of The Neighbors. Exhibiting internationally, Sophia has shown in the NYUAD Project Space Gallery (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Kalerie s čupr uměním Saigon (Ostrava, CZ), and the Water Tower Art Festival (Sofia, BG). They were an artist in residence at De Liceiras 18 (Porto, PT). Sophia has had their writing published by HeadwayLit, in a car on a road going to a place, and Pen Street: City of Poems. Their spoken word poetry has been featured by Old Ways New Tools (Chicago, US), IMPACT: Performance Festival (Chicago, US), and Signal to Noise (Brighton, UK).

Sophia is an individual who radiates astrophysicist energy. Everyone always assumes sunflowers are Sophia’s favorite flower, and they’re not wrong. They have unexpectedly received sunflowers at birthdays, openings, and once was gifted two bouquets at a going away party from two different people. When they were first hospitalized for Bipolar Disorder, they pulled those same bouquets out of their pockets. They recited To Love! by Florbela Espanca by memory, by heart. Sophia is a poet who spends their summers lifeguarding at the imaginary local swimming pool and their winters drinking too many cups of coffee. In the springtime they try not to slaughter flowers and during the autumn they fall in love with the fire of their surroundings, every year, all over again.

Traveling by bookstore, Sophia has lived on four continents and cherishes flying in a hot air balloon above a field of poppies in the Turkish countryside as one of their fondest memories.