Samantha Sponer
Interdisciplinary artist specializing in textiles, illustration, and graphic design located in Las Vegas, NV, USA.
They / Them
Artist Bio:
Samantha Sponer is an interdisciplinary artist from Las Vegas, NV. After graduating from Tufts University in Boston, MA with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and a Bachelors in Civic Studies, they moved back to their hometown to procure more inspiration from the infamous sin city. Samantha’s work addresses the fat experience in society and the desirability politics that surround it through a variety of mediums such as digital illustration, textiles, and painting. Sponer has shown their work in a few university exhibitions for photography, printmaking, and embroidery at both the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Loyola Marymount University. They have even displayed their own solo exhibition in collaboration with the non-profit Artworks for Freedom to educate and inspire action towards ending human trafficking. One of this artist's biggest accomplishments thus far has been their senior thesis wherein they started the “Body-ody Project” which included many illustrations of bigger bodies with a variety of expressions as well as a textile triptych shown in the senior thesis gallery show followed by an artist talk. Samantha attended their first artist residency at Casa Na Ilha in Ilhabela, Brazil where they continued the “Body-ody Project” with fat bodies depicted in nature and displayed a few of their embroidery pieces in a small show with the other artists at the residency. Since the artist graduated in the Spring of 2024, they have participated in mainly digital exhibitions for their illustrations. At present, this artist writes poetry with complimentary illustrations that they publish in their own zine and sell at a local bookstore under the pseudonym Art Hambleton. In the near future, Samantha hopes to pursue a Masters of Fine Art as they continue their art practice as a means of contributing to culture and educating the public.
Artist Statement:
As a fine artist committed to social justice, my art practice revolves around both research and lived experience. Through an array of mediums, I use embroidery, painting, digital illustration, typography, and more to encapsulate the fat experience in modern society. The politics of desirability is a realm that is largely discredited when in reality one’s aesthetic appearance can affect their access to healthcare, employment, love, quality of life, and much more. Fatness is an identity that compounds others such as race, gender, sexuality, and ability and is largely rooted in colonialism. Through my research I dive into the history of anti-fatness, how it started and where it came from, to inform the art that I make. My ultimate goal is to push fat representation further than just visibility: getting others to confront their (un)conscious biases and understand the active institutional oppression fat people face, especially as it works in tandem with the ‘-ism’ family. Liberationism is a broad concept but it encapsulates fat liberation alongside other emancipatory concepts like abolitionism, and my research encompasses its many forms. I hope to continue making art that contributes to our shared culture while educating the public.
Instagram: @arthambleton