Sarah graduated in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College in 2007. Her work addresses the perception of the female body through the augmented lens of high fashion and cosmetic surgery. She interrogates these theatres through the mediums of sculpture and black and white photography. Sarah currently spends her time between London and Los Angeles.
Over the past three years my work has evolved from a specific interest in the female form. Whereby I researched psychologists and sociologists that look at the effect the media have on the female psyche and further the tension between the exterior facade of beauty and the mechanics of making such perceived perfection a reality.
The most extreme manifestation, cosmetic surgery. My practice has so far involved extensive research concerned with the female body, cosmetic surgery, the surgeon and the tools techniques involved in the process.
I have spent a considerable amount of time with cosmetic surgeons and studying the psychology behind the aestheticisation of the body. Following observation and immersion in the surgical environment my practice has focussed further on the act of surgery and the environment in which it occurs, as well as the props involved.
My earlier work this year includes a series of black and white photographs of sections the body, these have an increased level of ambiguity and transparency, representing more abstract commentaries on the manipulation of the body through surgery. Furthermore I have become particularly interested the act of surgery, the sterile and surgical environment and the manipulation of the body.
Behind the sterile facade of modern surgery lie many of the same barbaric practices that have slowly evolved over hundreds of years. Saws, drills, knives, chisels, and hot irons all have as much a place in the modern surgical tool kit as they did many generations ago. The research compares the tools of a surgeon with those of the artist, and how the body becomes a sculptural commodity for both artist and surgeon. Although we conventionally consider surgery from a medical or scientific perspective, yet the act of surgery is also art.
The scene is undertaken in a 'Theatre' and could therefore be seen as 'performance', the tools and equipment as aids to the manipulation of the object during the performance. The environment is sterile, the activity is scientific. What are the dimensions relating to all the performers involved? What is the experience?
I became interested in the performative elements of the surgical theatre. In particular the sterile space and the implied action of the dormant equipment, the tools of surgery allude to an action, the diagnostic aspect of the technology alludes to an analytical voyeuristic attention to the body.
The culmination of the work forms an examination of the surgical environment, the tools and technology and how they allude to a performance. The work juxtaposes the aesthetics of the sterile space against a level of gruesomeness of the unseen act of surgery on the body as represented by the operating table.
The surgical instruments represent a certain quality/ sensuality whilst embedding a dream element to allow imagination as to the brutality of their use during the performance and further an element of fictional function. Here there are links between surgery and the body, the sculptural quality of the performance of surgery.
In addition I make reference to the ways in which art has been enriched by the developments of science...e.g. scans and x-rays. The technologies used in science are a significant factor in the creation of the performance space and the way in which we see the body. These technologies have also enabled the dimensions of surgery to emerge from the theatre. I take this forward in my work by using the notion of diagnosis to investigate the space and the graphic qualities of the equipment. The light-boxes and transparencies reference the art/science relationship through images of the theatre itself.
You can contact Sarah on the phone numbr or the email address below:
+44 (0) 7946 704 102
all design work completed by aspire design studios
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