As a bicultural artist, Sarah Alsaied makes work that straddles Eastern and Western cultures, and the complex issues of identity and the collapse of social, cultural, racial, and gendered borders. Through the use of clay, fiber, and installation art, she expresses aspects of herself and challenges stereotypes of Arab women.
Alsaied sculpts strange figures, surreal and haunting. She distorts the human figure to express identity, evoke emotions, and explore ideas of otherness, and invisibility. These figures evoke a sense of unease and disorientation in the viewer. Her color palette of black, white and red holds significant cultural and symbolic meaning within the Arab world and she uses the leading marks of color to represent the passage of time and to pay homage to her cultural heritage. She incorporates fibers in her work to represent the weaving and unraveling of her dual cultural identities. She uses fabric as a symbol to celebrate identity and honor privacy. Clay is used for its historical significance and its ability to record touch. She uses yarn to express a wide range of emotions such as connection/grief/love, and belonging. Through the combination of malleable and permanent qualities of the materials, Sarah explores and expresses the complexities of identity.
Sarah Alsaied is an artist from Kuwait based in the Midwest, United States. Sarah earned a BA in Studio Arts with ceramics emphasis at University of Southern Indiana (2018) and an MFA with sculpture emphasis at Wichita State University (2022). In 2021, Sarah contributed in organizing, co-creating, and co-designing of Juneteenth Parade Float in Wichita, KS, and reimagined the homecoming parade mascot puppet for Wichita State University. Recently, she finished a residency at the New Harmony Clay Project Center. Outside of the studio, Sarah is a wanderer who enjoys cooking, sporty activities, jewelry making, and video games.
