Sam Dawood (She/Her)

Artist Statement

Dawood's practice is an evolving commentary with an activist and journalistic approach. She focuses on an interruption of social dilemmas by submitting visual information to bring awareness and instigate conversations surrounding intersectionality. Dawood's practice began as an exploration into perceptions of gender diversity and desexualising the nude. The early works are transgressive sculptures that use playful humour to engage viewers in conversations about the censorship of our bodies and the consent around their continual sexualisation. The artworks are small political acts of freedom and vulnerability, moving away from the idealised form seen in centuries of traditional sculpture. The aim of the work is to reclaim nudity in a subversive nature by positioning the sculptures within both art and homeware / interior settings; carving a space outside of objectified nakedness through creating purposeful objects, disrupting the narrative of the nude within fine art. This work has led Dawood's practice to becoming an observation on the escalation of social media’s effects on body image and mental health; especially for women and people of colour. Her work is moving towards an inquiry into the contradictory nature of social media, especially between art online and art offline, with its differing rules on contextual censorship.