BODYSUITS by Sarah Sitkin’s was a solo exhibit at Superchief Gallery LA, which opened the month of March 2018. The show focused on human bodies turned into wearable garments. By directly molding actual people, Sitkin has preserved every minute detail to present hyper-realistic replicas of other people’s skin. Sitkin’s sculptural pieces are not horror or grotesque; they intentionally subvert boundaries and privacy in order to provoke recognition in the shared human experience. The wearer is invited to empathize, confront, and reevaluate the judgement we hold to the bodies of others as well as our own.
"The concept for this show was born when my grandmother asked me to make a mold of her toes. This led to a specific conversation about the physical attributes we personally remain insecure about. However, this quickly expanded beyond the personal, into the nature of the human condition as a meditation on the self. Our universal detachment with our bodies leads us through a lifetime of serious divides, between fantasy and reality for what our bodies should and could be. I do not believe the body defines who we are. It’s not really the essence of “us,” but functions more like a garment than a persona. The bodies in the show are direct molds from actual people. They have been recreated with extreme detail. Each suit carries it’s own weight, intended to communicate a burden or lack thereof for that particular body, such as the softness of youth, the stiffness of scar tissue, or the fragility of aging skin. I wanted “Bodysuits” to be an experience of the burden or pleasure of somebody’s physicality. The universal experience of insecurity is painful and often private, consolidated to a temporary solution and quick fix mentality that ignore the impending difficulties of age and breaking down. “Bodysuits” is a reminder of our impending mortality, allowing us to experience anothers being with curiosity and empathy, remembering our skins are not the self."
