Sheree Hovsepian’s practice highlights the physicality of the photograph and photography’s relationship to the human body. She employs ceramic, string, nylon, velvet, and photography in her assemblages to compose a sense of the framed physical body represented in her deliberately chosen mediums. Coaxed into sculptural forms, layered with tactile materials, and assembled into larger compositions, her work oscillates between object and image, creating an embodied experience of the photographic document.
As the artist states in her conversation with Charlotte Cotton, “I am interested in creating a narrative between the materials and the objects I choose to photograph. Many of the components of the collage allow me to work with my hands which is a very satisfying practice and permits me to put in the hours to physically understand its material language.”
This monograph presents Hovsepian’s photographs, ink drawings, photograms, assemblages, and sculptures collected for the first time in a publication. Curator and writer Charlotte Cotton contributes an insightful overview text on Hovsepian’s work, as well as an interview with the artist. Additionally, a critical text written by psychoanalyst Paige Sweet examines feminist perspectives in relation to the artist’s work.
Sheree Hovsepian (b. 1974, Iran) earned an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 and currently lives and works in New York City. Her work was recently included in the 2022 Venice Biennale as well as the exhibition Love Songs—Photography and Intimacy, International Center for Photography, New York, 2023. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Bronx Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Everson Museum of Art, among others.
