Sydney Robinson is an artist and designer from Gillette, Wyoming. She received her Associate of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Casper College in Casper, Wyoming, and moved to Spearfish, South Dakota where she is working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and Photography from Black Hills State University. As an interdisciplinary artist, she uses her art as a form of therapy to cope with physical illnesses and the mental toll that they take on her day-to-day life. Robinson’s work addresses the impacts of these disabilities on her past, present, and future.
Robinson’s work has been exhibited locally, regionally, and internationally including the Glasgow Gallery of Photography in the United Kingdom. She is also a member of the Society for Photographic Education. She has experience as a graphic design intern for Quik Signs in Spearfish, South Dakota, and as a photography intern assisting in archiving photos for the photography department at BHSU also in Spearfish.
Biography
My work focuses on my identity as someone with a disability as well as the concept of control. Many do not know or experience seeing the life of someone with chronic health issues. I document and examine the instability of my life since getting sick in high school. I address both the negative and the positive aspects of having a disability and use my art as a navigational way-point for myself and my emotions. I also address the loss of control throughout different areas of my life and explore the need to control the things around me to cope with what goes on with my health.
I use different types of media including textiles, cyanotype, photography, graphic design, and sculpture in my work to capture the emotions of my everyday life. These play an important role in my work because I am able to mold, skew, and capture the way I am feeling in that moment. As my identity as someone with a disability is ever-changing, my art follows the ups and downs of that journey.