Artist Statement:

During the months of isolation during the 2020 pandemic, I was surprised by a shift in my body language. This language shifted from one of love and openness to a language closed off and rigid. This piece explores the resilience in our bodies and the space our bodies used to freely inhabit. I hope to impart a sense of fluidity of singular forms while highlighting the space between separate forms. The negative space of the piece is almost more important than the positive. The final form (after firing in the kiln and glazing) will function as a flowerpot. The flowers and plants the sculpture will house life that inevitably cycles to death and then houses new life again. Named, isolation comes from insula which means island, based off musical work by Moses Sumney.

— Hoda Sayegh, University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago, Class of 2022