Sam Cleasby

Sam Cleasby is a multi-medium artist who uses her practice to address the barriers of life to a chronically ill person. Nature and the environment inspire her work and her art practice includes sculpture, textiles, photography and digital art. Her work is a response to ableism within society and the art world. 

As a disabled artist, her practice focuses on illness, disability and accessibility. As she visits art spaces around the UK, she often finds herself excluded from certain spaces due to their inaccessibility and so makes it her purpose to shine a light on those inequalities.

She believes that trauma that is not transformed will be transmitted, her practice is a way to transform her trauma and to use it for others to connect to and examine their own trauma. From trauma comes beauty, from sharing comes connection, from connection comes understanding.

Her goal is to inspire those who see her work to reflect on the environment they inhabit and consider the barriers around them in the form of the social model of disability and to examine and reflect inwardly in the micro-universe that is their own bodies. 

Removing the visceral, personal nature of medical images, she deconstructs, then reconstructs to engage and connect with the audience. 

Through natural dyes and inks, textiles, and photography and digital art, she uses a multi medium approach to delve into societal inequalities and consider a world without barriers.

She also creates and facilitates create workshops for festivals, events, corporate and private events.

You can find her Etsy page here for ethical, recycled, up cycled, natural and reimagined beautiful art, gifts, homeware