Samantha Taylor

Local Contemporary Art Prize 2025 – Finalist

Image courtesy of the artist

Samantha Taylor | Who Am I To Disagree | 2024 | coloured pencil on hot press watercolour paper | 76 x 56cm

Who am I to Disagree is part of a series titled Accumulated. This drawing explores the outcomes of an absurd attempt at making cumulus clouds; at capturing something ephemeral. Through the figurative reference of the occupied cloud, the image explores concepts of balance between heaviness and lightness, akin to a ‘Wizard of Oz’ moment where a ‘heavy cloud’ lands on earth. The resulting image presents a cacophony of pink bits and disembodied body parts forming an unnatural mountainscape of fleshy female elements.

The three-dimensional form of the cloud is made from recycled Kennards house-removal boxes, supporting architectural form-making and raising questions of consumerism. The model (the artist) is integrated into the image through performance and reference photography as an occupier of the constructed form. The final drawn outcome is a result of layers of unseen labour and questions gendered roles within domestic spaces.