Samantha Sutcliffe

How did you get into making art?

I didn’t know what else I wanted to do.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on doucmentary about my hometown called “Broken Mirror” and a film with Luisa Opalesky called “Sexually Absurd Isolated Reject”.

What inspired you to get started on this body of work?

I started Broken Mirror so I could understand more about how a place damages a person. My mother has been severely depressed and anxious since I was three or four years old taking painkillers everyday for physical pain. She was in a car accident when she tried to stop a moving car with two babies in the front seat and crushed her knee around the same time her parents died. I absorbed a lot from my surroundings as a child and had no outlet so making art has always been a way for me to process and understand.

Do you work on distinct projects or do you take a broader approach to your practice?

I work on a lot of different things at once but they are all connected to growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey.

What’s a typical day like in your studio?

My schedule is sporadic.

Who are your favorite artists?

Anything transgressive that is about our culture or society that has the power to make people change how they think or see from a different perspective. Kansas Bowling, Kathy Acker, Johnny Scuotto, Maurizio Cattelan, Vodka Vida, JJ Stratford

Where do you go to discover new artists?

My friend Bethany brings me to galleries. I like the shows they have at Duplex on the Lower East Side. I’ve also been meeting a lot of writers and poets through NYC publishers like Wonder Press and collectives like Scribe Tribe.