Sandra Pomeleo-Fowler is an interdisciplinary artist from Austin, Texas. Her work addresses conceptions of safety, home-building, and one’s relationship to the land. She received her BA in Studio Art from Smith College.

Fowler’s dramatic charcoal drawings are based on her experiences in the winter storm that shut down much of the southern United States in early 2021. She drew upon the desperation, the frantic movement of gathering basic resources, and the cold, heavy darkness that overtook the land. Firewood was coated in thick ice, pipes exploded, local water reserves froze solid. The severity of the storm and resulting blackouts were due not only to failed infrastructure, but also a failure to adapt to climate change and reconcile with the natural world in its present state. It was also an encounter with the sublime; the rocky, scrubby, central Texas landscape she grew up on that was unrecognizable with its vast, crystallized layers.

Collecting Firewood, Collecting Water, 2021

Charcoal on paper

1000 x 2400mm

Collecting Firewood, Collecting Water, 2021

Charcoal on paper

1000 x 2400mm