ARTIST STATEMENT
‘Poor Prognosis” speaks to the experience of witnessing decline – both personal and collective – with a sense of helpless clarity. The figure’s torso is marked by layered, organic forms that suggest exposed organs, malignancies, or internal disruptions, making visible that which is usually hidden beneath the surface.
On a personal level, this piece was shaped by the anguish of watching a beloved family member face two terminal cancer diagnoses – and with it, the slow, painful awareness that time is running out. On a broader scale, it speaks to the sense that our shared body politic is also under siege: basic rights, liberties, and decency are eroding, and we agonize as the prognosis worsens.
At its core, this sculpture is an expression of anticipatory grief – a suspended state of mourning for what is not yet gone, but already slipping away. It holds the tension of foreknowledge without power; of witnessing, without the means to change course.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sarah Springer is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Massachusetts and Maine. Her practice spans sculpture, encaustic painting, and mixed media, with a sustained focus on texture, materiality, and three-dimensional form — concerns that carry equally into her award-winning interior architectural work.
Her art investigates the structures that shape human experience: the weight of societal expectations, the language of maps and territories, mythology and ancient cultures, and the intricate systems found in the natural world. Her work has been presented in group, solo, and museum exhibitions and is held in private and corporate collections across the United States.
She holds a BFA from Cornell University, with additional studies in Firenze and Certaldo, Italy.
© Sarah Springer