Artist Statement | As I lie in the tub and the last inch of water drains, I am reminded of the weight of my body. What was just submissively floating now presses firmly against the tub’s walls, and I remember the power within this mechanism that is my body. In my work, I explore these shifting physical states and the power dynamics that play out through them: the vulnerable spaces of intimacy, relationships, and self as they meet the weight of desire.

By playfully exposing my vulnerabilities, I obscure the roles of viewer and voyeur. The viewer is tricked by the facade of innocent imagery, such as beach balls and flowers, only to discover that these function as surrogates for bodies. I am curious about how bodies remember touch, and specifically how intimacy and trauma can both be present in physical connection. An innertube quickly returns to its spherical shape after being stretched open, while cast concrete permanently takes the shape of its prior womb. The perpetual limbo between being embraced/restricted, revealed/hidden, and autonomous/dependent is where my work finds traction.

I am also interested in the anonymity of bodies. There is a common modern phenomenon in the realm of online interactions, where bodies are physically or emotionally absent, yet points of connection are found. I explore the degree to which bodies can be reduced and still retain their ability to prompt an empathic reaction. A figure without facial features, legs without a torso, two lovers intertwined as life vests, even a simple beach ball can evoke enough bodily resemblance to elicit empathy and connection.

As daunting as it may be to expose oneself, I am not shy. My work is brightly colored and blingy, and it unapologetically demands attention. I view my art as a language for the messiness of human connection. My work acknowledges strength in the weighted and the weightless, the inhale and the exhale, and it reminds me of the potential agency that is my body.

Sarah Bowling (b. 1993) is a sculptor and painter from Denver, CO. Bowling received her BFA in sculpture and painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. She currently lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA, where she is pursuing her MFA at Carnegie Mellon University.