Foam Sculptures, 2021
Compressed carved foam, spray foam, modeling paste, paint
Dimensions variable

Beginning with the series of black “i disastrosi” (little disasters) after the 2016 election, Sykes turned to sculpture to process the socio-political landscape under Trump. Spray foam and red paint led to another iteration, expressing a visceral feminine experience of repression at a time when women’s sanctity and rights felt threatened. In 2021, she created large, white, standing figural forms in reference to an ancient crone energy—channeling the ancestral power of primal images to reaffirm the value of the crone period as one steeped in feminine wisdom.