Artistic Statement
My lived experience as a neurodivergent femme body that informs all my work across decades of art-making and a range of mediums.
Whether it’s little girls struggling to disentangle from their mothers in my paintings and photographs; women defying their objectification in my video art, diverse New Yorkers reckoning with 9/11 in my docu-play 110 STORIES, Monica Lewinsky overcoming PTSD in MARVEL-OUS MONICA; IN WHICH MONICA LEWINSKY IS A SUPERHERO HELL-BENT ON REVENGE or, a young AAPI influencer recovering from a man’s trespasses as she interrogates the demonization of Abigail Williams and Marilyn Monroe in ABIGAIL, my work is about recovering from trauma.
This exploration goes beyond personal trauma. As someone who experienced 9/11 firsthand, was displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and now lives in a city devastated by wildfires that came within two miles of my home, I’m no stranger to communal trauma.
In my new play, SOLASTALGIA, our neurodivergent biracial non-binary protagonist struggles to overcome their grief after losing their home in one of California’s most destructive wildfires. But the larger story is one of two people—from vastly different identities, generations, classes, and socioeconomic backgrounds—grappling with the shared trauma of having lost their entire communities.
Given my life’s story, it makes sense that my body of work is about resistance… that it uplifts protagonists who refuse to submit to corrupt power. From an early age, I knew authority was not to be trusted, that it would not always act in my best interests.
As we enter another dangerous chapter in this country’s history, narratives that question power may offer a way to reach even those who’ve been successfully propagandized. With that in mind, I envision my work continuing to mine my lived experience but with increasing emphasis on threats that pose a danger to all of us.
Whether it’s little girls struggling to disentangle from their mothers in my paintings and photographs; women defying their objectification in my video art, diverse New Yorkers reckoning with 9/11 in my docu-play 110 STORIES, Monica Lewinsky overcoming PTSD in MARVEL-OUS MONICA; IN WHICH MONICA LEWINSKY IS A SUPERHERO HELL-BENT ON REVENGE or, a young AAPI influencer recovering from a man’s trespasses as she interrogates the demonization of Abigail Williams and Marilyn Monroe in ABIGAIL, my work is about recovering from trauma.
This exploration goes beyond personal trauma. As someone who experienced 9/11 firsthand, was displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and now lives in a city devastated by wildfires that came within two miles of my home, I’m no stranger to communal trauma.
In my new play, SOLASTALGIA, our neurodivergent biracial non-binary protagonist struggles to overcome their grief after losing their home in one of California’s most destructive wildfires. But the larger story is one of two people—from vastly different identities, generations, classes, and socioeconomic backgrounds—grappling with the shared trauma of having lost their entire communities.
Given my life’s story, it makes sense that my body of work is about resistance… that it uplifts protagonists who refuse to submit to corrupt power. From an early age, I knew authority was not to be trusted, that it would not always act in my best interests.
As we enter another dangerous chapter in this country’s history, narratives that question power may offer a way to reach even those who’ve been successfully propagandized. With that in mind, I envision my work continuing to mine my lived experience but with increasing emphasis on threats that pose a danger to all of us.
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Sarah Tuft
Artistic Statement
My lived experience as a neurodivergent femme body that informs all my work across decades of art-making and a range of mediums.
Whether it’s little girls struggling to disentangle from their mothers in my paintings and photographs; women defying their objectification in my video art, diverse New Yorkers reckoning with 9/11 in my docu-play 110 STORIES, Monica Lewinsky overcoming PTSD in MARVEL-OUS MONICA; IN WHICH MONICA LEWINSKY IS A SUPERHERO HELL-BENT ON REVENGE or, a young AAPI influencer recovering from a man’s trespasses as she interrogates the demonization of Abigail Williams and Marilyn Monroe in ABIGAIL, my work is about recovering from trauma.
This exploration goes beyond personal trauma. As someone who experienced 9/11 firsthand, was displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and now lives in a city devastated by wildfires that came within two miles of my home, I’m no stranger to communal trauma.
In my new play, SOLASTALGIA, our neurodivergent biracial non-binary protagonist struggles to overcome their grief after losing their home in one of California’s most destructive wildfires. But the larger story is one of two people—from vastly different identities, generations, classes, and socioeconomic backgrounds—grappling with the shared trauma of having lost their entire communities.
Given my life’s story, it makes sense that my body of work is about resistance… that it uplifts protagonists who refuse to submit to corrupt power. From an early age, I knew authority was not to be trusted, that it would not always act in my best interests.
As we enter another dangerous chapter in this country’s history, narratives that question power may offer a way to reach even those who’ve been successfully propagandized. With that in mind, I envision my work continuing to mine my lived experience but with increasing emphasis on threats that pose a danger to all of us.
Whether it’s little girls struggling to disentangle from their mothers in my paintings and photographs; women defying their objectification in my video art, diverse New Yorkers reckoning with 9/11 in my docu-play 110 STORIES, Monica Lewinsky overcoming PTSD in MARVEL-OUS MONICA; IN WHICH MONICA LEWINSKY IS A SUPERHERO HELL-BENT ON REVENGE or, a young AAPI influencer recovering from a man’s trespasses as she interrogates the demonization of Abigail Williams and Marilyn Monroe in ABIGAIL, my work is about recovering from trauma.
This exploration goes beyond personal trauma. As someone who experienced 9/11 firsthand, was displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and now lives in a city devastated by wildfires that came within two miles of my home, I’m no stranger to communal trauma.
In my new play, SOLASTALGIA, our neurodivergent biracial non-binary protagonist struggles to overcome their grief after losing their home in one of California’s most destructive wildfires. But the larger story is one of two people—from vastly different identities, generations, classes, and socioeconomic backgrounds—grappling with the shared trauma of having lost their entire communities.
Given my life’s story, it makes sense that my body of work is about resistance… that it uplifts protagonists who refuse to submit to corrupt power. From an early age, I knew authority was not to be trusted, that it would not always act in my best interests.
As we enter another dangerous chapter in this country’s history, narratives that question power may offer a way to reach even those who’ve been successfully propagandized. With that in mind, I envision my work continuing to mine my lived experience but with increasing emphasis on threats that pose a danger to all of us.