Amanda Crain-Freeland

MFA Sculpture, 2025

Like chasing a phantom, my work grows from a desire to understand what lies beyond the surface of appearances—to find the point at which aesthetics and politics are inextricable from one another, not as propaganda but as a way of unveiling. Read as a double entendre, the word “lies” reiterates the dishonesty of surfaces.

As the cultural climate continues to become increasingly divisive, I am not interested in binary distinctions of good/bad, instead opting for the murky space in between, where facades fail and contradictions have the potential to reveal the realities of our environments—the physical, psychological, and digitally mediated. To borrow from Roger Caillois’ theory of ‘Diagonal Sciences,’ I believe that in order to create understandings, seemingly tenuous correlations across systems of power and meaning must be explored.

I use the act of looking backward as a starting point to identify echoes of the past that have shaped contemporary perceptions. These interests are guided by direct observation, noticing patterns and materials within my surroundings and popular culture. In drawing from historical documents, accounts, and images, alongside personal observation, the works are footnotes to the research. Through the language of sculpture, hybridized forms serve to cite both past and present while posing a series of operational and technical equations to be solved, offering new ways to engage with material.