Photo by Rémi Godin.
Artist Statement
I'm a trans-disciplinary artist examining memory and its relationship to the body. I use sculpture, installation, drawing, and poetry to investigate my personal experience with cognitive fidelity, white patriarchal control, and the reliability of memory. Many of my sculptures and drawings integrate fiber and found objects; materials with their own histories and corporal ties. My work often indexes the body—for example, using stuffed clothing or my own hair—without presenting it whole. This ambiguity creates a stronger connection to malaise, intergenerational trauma, and the unknown: a tool for inching in on repressed memory and the lingering effects of dysmorphia and psycho-sexual abuse.
Bio
Sam Sundius (they/she) received a B.A. from Hunter College in Studio Art in 2014, and has studied at l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Art Students League in New York. Sundius' work has been shown with Field Projects (curated by Home Gallery), the Governors Island Art Fair, and at the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art and has been written about in the Gothamist. They’ve been selected twice for 4heads residencies on Governors Island, at NARS International Residency, and AqTushetii in Tushetti, Georgia. Sam’s also the recipient of the NYFA City Artist Corps Grant and the Queens Art Fund New Work Grant.
Sam Sundius lives and works between New York and Paris, France. They’re a creative coaching and an adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt since Spring 2025.
CV
TEACHING:
2025 NYU Steinhardt, Adjunct professor undergraduate studies “Food + Art,” NY
EDUCATION:
2019 Art Students League, New York, NY
2017 New York University, Steinhardt, Master of Arts, New York, NY
2014 CUNY Hunter College, magna cum laude, Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art, Drawing, with Departmental Honors, New York, NY
2010 Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts (ENSBA), Exchange program: Ateliers of Dominique Gauthier (painting) and Wernher Bouwens (lithography), Paris, France
RESIDENCIES:
2022 NARS International Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2021 4heads Governors Island. Governors Island, NY
2020 4heads Governors Island. Governors Island, NY
2020 AqTushetii (participation cancelled due to COVID-19). Lower Omalo, Tusheti, Georgia
2020 Byrdcliffe (postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19). Woodstock, NY
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS:
2022 SHIFT, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
2021 DOG PARK, Petty Cash (curated by Field Projects), Brooklyn, NY
2021 Portal: Governors Island, New York, NY (cancelled due to COVID-19)
2021 Emergence, Beacon Artists Union, Beacon, NY
2020 Writing on the Walls, Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
2019 Portal: Governors Island (formerly Governors Island Art Fair), New York, NY
PUBLIC WORKS:
2022 “Ground,” collaboration with Jiwon Rhie. Outdoor installation. Queensbridge Park, Queens, NY
2021 “Intervene,” collaboration with Jiwon Rhie. Outdoor installation. Governors Island, NY
2020 “Moments,” collaboration with Jiwon Rhie. Temporary outdoor installation. Governors Island, NY
2018 “Luggage Tags,” New Sanctuary Coalition Suitcase March (outdoor installation), New York, NY
2008 Mural for Fundação Bomfim, Braga, Portugal
GRANTS & AWARDS:
2021 City Artist Corps Grant, NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, New York, NY
2021 Queens Council on the Arts, Queens Art Fund New Work Grant, Queens, NY
PUBLICATION:
2020 “Writing on the Walls 2020,” editors Mara Mills, Livia Straus, and Jo-Ann Brody. Hudson Valley MOCA, Peekskill, NY
2020 Illustrations for “Theater of Disappearing” (working title) by M. Castaneda, Edinburgh University Press (forthcoming), Edinburgh, UK
2019 Catalog: Portal: Governors Island 2019, 4heads, New York, NY
2019 Catalog: Chelsea International Fine Arts Show, Agora Gallery, New York, NY