Sarah Alsaied
Duration: January-April 2023
Over the course of her residency, Sarah Alsaied will explore creating distortions and veiled layers of the human figure through plaster and slip casting. Her work explores the conceptual boundary between real and surreal of the “Other,” taking advantage of the human form in order to challenge the gaze through storytelling and evoke a sense of inbetween or a cusp. Her goal is to push the idea of the “Other” and create more surreal work that challenges perceptions of SWANA (South West Asian North African) women.
quick facts
How many years have you been working as a clay artist? 8 years
What is your main clay body that you currently use? Electric Brown ^6
What is the primary method you use for building your work? Hand-building
What is your favorite studio tool? Kemper fettling knife
Do you have any future clay wishes or dreams? I wish to create a clay school in the Middle East. One that fosters compassion, belonging, and love for art making.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a bicultural artist, living and working between Eastern and Western sensibilities and cultures, my work navigates the space between identities and shows my singular double vision to the collapse of social, cultural, racial, and gendered borders. My work is a visual representation of my simultaneous questioning and celebration of my identity fluctuating between cultures throughout history. This liminal space that is in flux allows me to exist and express myself beyond stereotypical worldviews and cultures as a woman without cultural confines and limits.
Clay and fiber combine to express my identity and confront stereotypes of Arab women. I compose the figure in certain positions taken from Orientalist paintings to claim an interstitial space between Eastern and Western culture. I use paint and dye to color fibers that symbolize vitality and protection, and the bleeding marks of color represent time. I make use of strong contrasts of red as an homage to my cultural heritage.
BIOGRAPHY
BORN: Alrawda, Kuwait City | Kuwait
Sarah Alsaied is a Kuwaiti artist currently based in Wichita, Kansas. She earned her MFA in Sculpture at Wichita State University in Kansas and BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Ceramics at the University of Southern Indiana. Sarah’s work has been exhibited throughout the Midwest and explores otherness and navigates invisible spaces between identities as a brown woman. Throughout the work, she uses the figure to express beliefs, tell stories, and explore humanity. Sarah uses different mediums in the work to engage the range and complexity of human experiences and emotions from the hardness of clay to the softness of fabric.