Sarah Rosalena disrupts the politics of discovery by fusing traditional and Indigenous craft, astronomical data, and emerging technologies
Sarah Rosalena, Transposing A Form, 2020. Ceramic 3D print of MMS-2 Enhanced Mars Simulant, bentonite clay, aluminum-based glaze. Courtesy of Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo, photo by Jenalee Harmon
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thursday, August 17, 2023 — The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is pleased to present Sarah Rosalena: In All Directions, on view at Columbus Museum of Art at The Pizzuti (The Pizzuti) from September 9, 2023–February 4, 2024. Bringing together several major bodies of work by the artist, in addition to new textiles and sculptures created specifically for the exhibition, In All Directions showcases Rosalena’s merging of Indigenous craft traditions with new media, resulting in profound visions for feminist and anti-colonial worldbuilding on a cosmological scale.
With over 35 works dating from 2019, the exhibition centers Rosalena’s investigations into scholarly and corporate narratives around space exploration and interplanetary colonization. Informed by the artist’s scientific and historical research, Rosalena’s works fuse ceramic, textile, and beadwork with artificial intelligence, satellite data and digital fabrication to confront the geopolitical effects of climate change, dispossession and extractive economies. Created with tools such as 3D ceramic printers and bead looms, all of the works on view are woven through various constellations of hand and machine.