Sapphire Moon Moroz was born on a blue moon on Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her interdisciplinary practice has a conceptual approach to image-making through combinations of painting, sculpture, photo, video, and installation. Investigating notions of intimacy, privacy, and memory, she utilizes her own image and personal archives as well as found media in contextually meaningful ways. Her work is intricate, critical, and unsettling, and demonstrates her dedication to research, concept, and craftsmanship. Sapphire holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons.) from the University of Manitoba School of Art. She works in collections management and art handling for local galleries and institutions. She is in love with and troubled by: history, bodies, words, and living. Her biggest inspirations are women, religion, and horror.
Artist statement
Working in unexpected combinations of painting, sculpture, video, and installation, I explore the intersections between viewer, subject, and space. My work draws on the history of the female image, the maker, and the viewer in order to converge them through a feminist lens. Through a conceptual and critical approach to image-making, I aim to subvert viewer expectations and question what it means to truly see and be seen as woman, as artist, and as object.
Influenced by the portrayal of intimate spaces, relationships, and acts within the gallery, cinema, and internet, I create interactive constructions about the act of viewing. As I utilize moveable boundaries, peepholes, and immersive structures, my work requires an intimate exchange between viewer and artwork to reveal the concealed image. My work aims to create an alluring yet unsettling experience as viewers are encouraged to commit acts of voyeurism which challenge the comfort of complacency within passive viewing. Through interactivity and intentional viewing, the audience becomes an active participant, unraveling and engaging with complex narratives and deeply personal themes.
Intimacy, however, is not just between the viewer and object, but between myself and the audience as I work with my own image, relationships, and personal archives to highlight the vulnerability of the self and female identity within the realm of looking and being seen. In order to spark a critical dialogue around the desire and need to look and be looked at, I exhibit myself in my work to mirror the exposure of the female body in the history of art and film, and on the depths of the internet.