Far from Home displays a fictional landscape of deformed architectural buildings. The domineering multiples suggest suffocation and anxiety which significantly symbolises enmeshment and the overwhelming protectiveness of a cultured household. 

Far from Home displays a fictional landscape of deformed architectural buildings. The domineering multiples suggest suffocation and anxiety which significantly symbolises enmeshment and the overwhelming protectiveness of a cultured household. 
Far from Home has been developed over a series of works. I have particularly been inspired by the Oil painting Syria which depicts “war” on Syrian architecture. Translating these ideas into 3D form has successfully increased the level of destruction, disaster and discomfort of the viewer which is significant to comment on the suffocation and travesty Palestine faces today.

Far from Home, 2021. Plaster, Clay, Metal and Sand [Sculpture], 150x200x120cm (Variable).

Far from Home, 2019. Plaster and Clay [Installation], 35 x 80 x 50 cm (Variable).

Critiquing an obnoxious Turkish wedding ritual that celebrates male dominance and traditional gender roles at the expense of women who are suppressed.

MORE INFO: Traditionally, Turkish women serve their husband-to-be coffee with a spoonful of salt, which he drinks to affirm his love. Importantly, imperfect coffee would generate years of gossip and the woman considered unworthy of marriage, (Chekerovski., 2019). To critique this ritual, I Offer You This preserves a mountain of salt in a perfectly shaped cube which mocks the requirement of “perfect”. The salt I preserve - for my “Future Turkish Husband” is far too dangerous to ingest in one sitting. Humorous to modern Turkish women, though, offensive to Traditional Turks, this Activist artwork is key to address gender inequality, specifically in Turkish culture.

I Offer You This, 2019. Salt preserved in a Plastic cube [Installation Maquette], 30 x 30.  

Perfect Squares, Typewritten text embedded into Plaster [Installation], 10 x 10 x 1.5 cm.

An array of 'perfect' tiles. The mixture is loosely controlled but the final outcome ironically cannot be predetermined due to the placement of the materials that are embedded into flowing plaster.

Perfect Tiles, 2020. Typewritten text embedded into Plaster [Installation], 4 tiles: 15 x 10 x 1.5 cm

Positive cognitions installed via therapy to replace negative beliefs constructed from traumatic experiences. The autonomous and slow process involves repetition and memorisation, hence, acts as a form of therapy itself.

Sara Osman, Installed Cognitions, 2020. Text embedded into Plaster [Installation], 233 X 78 cm.

Sara Osman, Stuck Somewhere that I do not belong, 2020. Text embedded into Plaster [Installation], 203 x 128 cm.

The type-written poems express my gratitude to my family. Poignancy and stillness are portrayed which ironically contradicts the mindful text and the movement (determination) of the installation. The context (which involves free-thinking) and the form (produced via bodily movement) contradict one another. This hints to how the mind and body are not aligned and that further healing is required.

Interestingly, time is significant to view ongoing change not only in self but the materials. For instance, as the Latex dries out the compositions reveal themselves and over a long period of time they will start to decay.

Building Boundaries, 2020. Latex, Plaster and Sand hanging from Steel Wire [Installation], 146 x 148 cm.

Healthy Adult: I Am Safe is a conversation between the anxious mind and the Healthy Adult. The anxious mind is questioning the effect that past trauma may have on their future, while the wiser person guides and grounds them into the present. 

I expose my struggles to not only strengthen and understand my psyche but to normalise the anxieties and challenges people face every day - in the aim of providing wisdom and hope. 

Interestingly, as the Latex dries the text will slowly darken and over a longer period, the Latex will start to decay. The use of the fourth dimension – time – captures the authenticity of evolution, celebrates life and joy of the here and now and evokes the possibility of change to transform one's life.

Healthy Adult: I Am Safe, 2021. Latex and Sand [Mixed Media Poster], 120x83cm.

The Latex scroll Healthy Adult: I Trust Myself is a scripted Psychoanalysis for when the mind is in an anxious state. The text reveals an anxious person questioning their catastrophic thoughts and a wiser, stronger person – their Healthy Adult – steering them away from disaster and grounding them in the present.

Sharing personal stories in the hope of building a relationship with the viewer is significant, as I aim to guide the viewer through my art and provide them with a sense of hope.

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Sara Kew Osman