Sam Dawood (She/Her)

Bio

Sam Dawood (born 1995) studied at Central Saint Martins and Wimbledon College of Art. Dawood’s transgressive sculptures created with a playfulness aimed to engage viewers in accessible conversations about the censorship of bodies and the consent (or lack of consent) around their continual sexualization. Her work has recently been included in The British Library’s exhibition The Fight for Women’s Rights with Bloody Good Period and The Vagina Museum’s permanent collection. Dawood is currently living in the East End of London.

PRESS LINKS

Erika Lust (2019)

The Daily Beast (2019)

INSIDER (2019)

New York Times (2019)

Mainly Museums (2019)

The Guardian (2019)

Amelia Green - Art and Activism (2020)

Express and Start (2020)

The Daily Mail (2020)

NOW Gallery (2021)

Artist Statement

Dawood’s transgressive sculptures created with a playfulness aimed to engage viewers in accessible conversations about the censorship of bodies and the consent (or lack of consent) around their continual sexualisation. It was through exposure to Reality TV in Dubai that Dawood first became aware of the dichotomy of modern society and the Religious State when it comes to the representation of bodies. From prolific, normalising depictions of women having plastic surgery, to the censorship of nudity with black Sharpie in art books, she has since been interested in the paradox between the portrayal of bodies (largely within capitalist societies benefitting from insecurity) and the apparent need to shame or shun a body deemed “too” sexual.

Through the creating and sharing of these works on social media, Dawood's practice has become an observation on the escalation of social media’s effects on body image and mental health; especially for women and people of colour. Deliberately “visually appealing”, with a contrived use of millennial aesthetics proven to perform well within the algorithms of social media; the artworks are small political acts of freedom and vulnerability, moving away from the idealised form seen in centuries of traditional sculpture. Dawood aims to encourage all participants to see through the veneer, disrupt the current status quo, and challenge the non-consensual sexualisation of nudity.