Sarah Maloney, RCA (b. 1965) is a contemporary sculptor and textile artist who is nationally recognized for her representations of botanicals and the human body. Using media ranging from embroidery to bronze, Maloney challenges ideas of “women’s work,” craft, and artistic labour. She looks at Western history and culture through a feminist lens, and the results are depictions of plants, bones, and organs that reference gender, pleasure, desire, and power. Her craft is joyful, beautiful, and indicative of the structured nature of our biological, social and economic systems.
Meticulous, witty and historically researched, Maloney interprets mythology and symbolism in labour-intensive techniques from welding to stitching. Her work challenges how people think about icons of Western colonialism, such as museum collections, domestic gardens, and landscape art.
Sarah Maloney’s Pleasure Ground showcases artworks created between 1993 and 2021 that show her development as an artist. This selection exemplifies her ongoing explorations of sexuality, reproductivity, economics, and colonial systems of representation.
Co-curated by Jennifer Matotek and Laura Ritchie.
Organized by Art Windsor-Essex. Toured with support from the Canadian Heritage Museums Assistance Program through Access to Heritage.
Artwork: Sarah Maloney, Pleasure Grounds, 2019 (detail) bronze 15 pieces, dimensions variable Purchased with funds provided by the Charles Anthony Law and Jane Shaw Law Charitable Trust, 2021. Collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. 2021.14 (photo: Steve Farmer)
