Sarah Ciurysek

• 2003, BFA, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
• 2007, MFA, Parsons The New School for Design, and Concordia University

Sarah Ciurysek is a visual artist exploring the relationships we have with the ground. Soil figures prominently in works that reference graves, voids, and death, as well as the life-giving components of the earth. Sarah’s practice centres around photography and how it intersects with audio, film, and most recently, textiles. Installation is often used to disrupt and refresh the viewer’s experience of the ground: a photographic wall of soil towers overhead, vinyl photographs on the gallery floor are walked upon.

Sarah's core research interests include the relationship between image and object, the connection between the physical aspects of an artwork and the emotions it evokes, and embodiment and its relationship to time. She addresses places and subject areas that are often overlooked or undervalued, such as rural sensibilities and concerns, and women’s experiences. 

Exhibitions of Sarah’s work have been presented across Canada, and in the UK, Austria, and South Africa. She has received grants from the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Sarah was raised on a farm in Treaty 8 territory in northern Alberta, and she continues to work with the land there while studying relationships to place during residencies and exhibitions (most recently at Textilsetur, Iceland and Schleifmühlgasse 12-14, Vienna).