Although Sarah Clifford-Rashotte’s latest collages appear obvious critiques of the hyper-sexualized representation of women in the mass media, this Toronto-based artist’s work goes deeper than that. Through her collage works, as well as her text-based drawings, installations and collected ephemera, Clifford-Rashotte catalogues cultural experiences in a manner that feels detached, yet also deeply personal (especially in the diaristic voice she employs in her text works). Female-centric notions of self-preservation and self-obliteration seem to inform these recent collage works, suggesting the conflicting, multilayered identities that she – indeed, all women – have imposed upon them by society. The implication in Clifford-Rashotte’s work is that survival depends on a person’s ability to maintain control of her (or his) personal narrative in an increasingly invasive and prescriptive world.

Clifford-Rashotte is an MFA graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design (London, U.K.) and has exhibited in Canada and Europe. Her work has been covered by the Globe & Mail and Esse magazine. She is represented by LE Gallery in Toronto.