Bite Me

As an artist, Sam Druant explores the influence of (sometimes Biblical) stories, myths and fairy tales on our contemporary society. Sam plays with the idea of rewriting history and reality, questioning and updating the dominant narrative. In a playful and ironic way, she provides a feminist critique of the narratives about gender roles embedded in Western culture and of the sexism still confronting women on a daily basis. Her work aims to spark a conversation about how women are perceived, the male gaze, and prevailing binary hierarchical oppositions. Within these themes, the medium of textile certainly plays an important role because of the historically developed link between textile techniques, soft materials, craft, amateurism, home focus and womanhood. These strong connotations are an inexhaustible source of both fruitful wonder and inspiration for Sam. Why are they still so persistent today? She combines her background in illustration with various textile techniques, such as tufting, weaving, knitting and embroidery. In the figurative way of working, she focuses strongly on a contrast in text, image and material. In addition, Sam tries to get her materials from second-hand shops or from the deadstock of textile manufacturers. She is currently completing her MA thesis on textiles at the Luca School of Arts (Ghent, BE) while doing an MFA at HDK-Valand (Gothenburg, SE).