Sarah Bouchard
she/her
Athens, GA, USA
Sarah received a BA in Studio Art and Philosophy from Coastal Carolina University. She currently resides in Athens, GA as a graduate student and instructor at the University of Georgia. She has exhibited work in NY, GA, WA, SC and NC.
“Considering the themes of gender, domesticity, queerness and absurdity, I make tools. I am interested in the space that exists between the viewer and the object, and what happens when peripheral elements of the domestic space become more present, demanding attention and further queering the phenomenology of the viewer. By engaging with the humor that resides in both the function and design of these tools, the viewer is simultaneously placed in a position of enjoyable participation and complicit action, further blurring the experience of use as both paradoxical and pleasant.”
What does being queer mean to you in relation to your material choices? Is it something you consider?
“I feel naturally compelled towards the metal objects and other materials that occupy the quotidian. To me, their quiet presence, and often seeming absence, feel quite queer. Perhaps those immediate objects which reside intimately with us throughout the day are less queer, for instance a spoon or handle; but there is a material lineage that connects those which are most intimate to those which are most seemingly distant. The objects or components that slip away and exist on the periphery of our awareness have the most queering effect when they come into view. These parts, pieces and things are perhaps not queer in themselves, but have a disorienting effect on the viewer or participant, which I find to be very queer."
"Loop Scoop", Brass, oak, 10" x 1" x 2", 2023Is the work queer because the maker is queer, or is it queer because the subject matter is queer?
“I would say both; however, I am interested in queerness as concept in its relation to that which is strange, abnormal, and non-normative more so than my own personal account."
