I started making molds of my own body in my bedroom using alginate and plasters when I was 10 or 11. my dad also did a face cast of me and my brother when we were kids, and the life cast masks sat on a shelf in the living room for years. A prosthetic iPhone case created by sitkin that looks, moves and feels like a real ear. Skin tight bodysuit for sale. A woman chose to wear a male body to confront her fear and personal conflict with it. Sitkin's father ran a craft shop in LA called 'kit kraft' where she was first introduced to the art of special effects. This wasn't just any craft shop—it was a craft shop in a part of the city that was saturated with movie studios so it catered to the entertainment industry.
'bodies are volatile icons despite their banal ubiquity'. Moving a person out of their comfort zone is the first step in achieving vulnerability, and in that space, a person may allow themselves to be impacted. To what extent do you feel the personalities or experiences of your real-life subjects are retained by the finished molds, or, once complete, do you see the suits as standalone objects in their own right? Designboom: can you talk a bit about your background as an artist: how you first started making art, where the impulse came from and when you began to make these sculptural, body-focused pieces? Noses, mouths, eyes and skin are things we all have a fairly intimate relationship with, and changing the way we present these features can seem integral to our sense of identity. Sitkin's work forces us to encounter and engage with our bodies in new and unusual ways. DB: what is the most difficult part of the human body to replicate, and what is your favorite part to work on? I try and insulate myself from trends and entertainment media. I'm finally coming into myself as an artist in the past couple of years, learning how to fuse my craftsmanship with concept to achieve a complete idea. SS: I'm looking to bring the bodysuits show to other cities, next stop is detroit, michigan on may 4th 2018. I developed my own techniques through experimentation and research, then distributed my work primarily via photographs and video on social media. SS: our bodies are huge sources of private struggle. SS: 'creepy' and horror' are terms I struggle to transcend. Bodysuit underwear for men. Does creating pieces specifically for display in a gallery context change the way you approach a project, or is your process always the same regardless?
This de-personification allows us to view our physical form without familiarity, and we are confronted with the inconsistency between how we appear vs how we exist in our minds. Bodies are politicized and labeled despite the ideals and identities of those individuals, especially when presented without emotional or social markers. SS: probably the head is my favorite part of the human body to mold. I'm pretty out of touch with pop music and culture. When someone scrolls past a pretty image it is disposable, but when someone takes their own pic, it becomes part of their experience. Designboom caught up with sitkin recently to talk about the exhibition, as well her background as an artist and plans for the future. Every day we have to make it our own; tailor, adorn and modify it to suit our identity at the moment. These early molding and casting experiments really came to play a huge role in the ideas I would later have as an artist, and got me very comfortable with the materials and process. Do you see the documentation of your more sculptural work as an extension of those pieces or a separate thing altogether? A young person was able to wear ageing skin to reconnect with the present moment.
I never went to art school (in fact I never even graduated high school). By staging an environment for the audience to photograph, it invites them to collaborate. It becomes a medium of storytelling, of self interrogation and of technical artistry. Sitkin's work tests the link between physical anatomy and individual sense of identity. A diverse digital database that acts as a valuable guide in gaining insight and information about a product directly from the manufacturer, and serves as a rich reference point in developing a project or scheme. Navigating the inevitable conflict, listening to opinions and providing emotional support is stressful but it's part of the responsibility of being an artist making provocative work around delicate subject matter. Removing the boundaries between the audience and the art allows the experience to become their own. Most recently, sitkin's 'BODYSUITS' exhibition at superchief gallery in LA invited visitors to try on the physical molds of other people's naked bodies, essentially enabling them to experience life through someone else's skin. In the sessions I've experienced a myriad of responses.
Most all the ideas I have come from concepts I'm battling with internally every day; body dysmorphia, nihilism, transcendence, ageing, and social constructs. Sarah sitkin: I started making art in my bedroom as a kid with stuff my dad would bring home from work. Combining sculpture, photography, SFX, body art, and just plain unadorned oddity, the strange worlds suggested by her creations are as dreamlike as they are nightmarish. Are there any upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? Working within gallery walls is actually exciting right now because the opportunity to show work in person opens up the possibility to interact with the public in new and profound ways. Flesh becomes a malleable substance to be molded and whittled into new and unrecognisable shapes. I use materials and techniques borrowed from special effects, prosthetics, and makeup (an industry built on the foundations of those words) but the concepts I'm illustrating really have nothing to do with gore, cosplay, or horror.
In deconstructing the body itself, sitkin tests the link between physical anatomy and individual sense of identity. I suppose doing an interview with someone who's body was molded for the show would be an interesting read. DB: what's next for sarah sitkin? DB: I know you're also really interested in photography and I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on how that ties into the other avenues of your practice. Combining an eclectic mix of materials, sitkin's work consists of hyper-realistic molds of the human form which toy with and tear apart the preconceptions we have about our own bodies, and the bodies of those around us. I imagine a virtual universe where I can create without obeying physics, make no physical waste, and make liberal use of the 'undo' button. To present a body as separate from the self—as a garment for the self. It's never a bank slate, we constantly have to find a way to work in a constant influx of aging, hormones, scar tissue, disease, etc. DB: your work is often described as 'creepy' or 'horror art', and while there is something undeniably discomfiting about some of your pieces, are these terms ones you identify with personally and is this sense of disorientation something you intentionally set out to try and achieve? SS: what influences me most, (to say what constantly has a hand in shaping my ideas) is my own psychological torment. DB: your sculptures, while at times unsettling, are also incredibly intimate and display the human form in a really unglamorous way that feels—especially in the case of 'bodysuits'—very personal.
There's a subtle discrepancy between what we think we look like and the reality of our appearance. There were several sessions that had an impact in ways I didn't foresee; a trans person was able to see themselves with a body they identify with, and solidified their understanding of themselves. That ownership of experience is so important to eschew psychological blockades, to allow the work to be impactful in meaningful ways. I definitely see the finished suits as standalone objects, however, it's also so important to approach each suit with care and respect, because they still represent actual individuals.