Sandra Sutera

Artist Statement

At the core of my practice is a desire to restore attention to the discarded, the ignored, and the overlooked. My work centers on the quiet artifacts of what the world forgets—decaying wood, fungus, foraged plant matter, rusted metal, expired insects, and other found ecological fragments—and seeks to reclaim and elevate these materials often left to decay.

I follow a deeply intuitive pull as I scan my surroundings for objects that demand my attention—whether I’m digging through sand on a New England beach, wandering city streets on my way to the gym, or moving through abandoned spaces. When something calls to me, I recognize it instantly. A rock might reveal a face; a twig might suggest the posture of an alien form, lichen-covered bark might recall the shifting pattern of mermaid scales. I’m drawn to the unusual and the uncanny, unafraid to collect what others might recoil from as grotesque—even the fragile remains of once-living organisms.

Once in the studio, I transform these fragments through layered processes of construction, preservation, and recontextualization. I work with each material as both artifact and collaborator, allowing its natural form and inherent personality to guide the direction of the piece. Through this process, the remnants evolve into hybrid beings that exist somewhere between nature and imagination—beings that feel unexpectedly alive, carrying new agency, identity, and presence. They reveal the inherent complexity and unexpected beauty embedded within the natural world—inviting viewers to reconsider their assumptions about what is alive, valuable, or worthy of attention.