Thesis Exhibition:  March 19 - March 22  

Reception: March 21, 2025, 5-8 pm 

Untitled, December 2024, Digital Inkjet, 40 inches x60 inches, Sophia Dell'Arciprete  

Untitled, December 2024, Digital Inkjet, 40 inches x60 inches, Sophia Dell'Arciprete 

 Artist Statement  

My new work explores how the traditional American home often neglects conversations about sexuality, making it difficult for me to understand my own identity while growing up. This project is inspired by Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology and her metaphor of “handedness.”

Ahmed suggests that using certain “parts of the body” diminishes proficiency with others—for instance, the more one learns to write with their right hand, the less adept they become with their left. Similarly, aligning oneself to fit into straight, heteronormative spaces limits the ability to imagine other orientations and ways of being. “To become straight,” Ahmed writes, “means we must turn toward objects given by heterosexual culture while turning away from those that take us off this line.”

Through ambiguous self-portraits and photographs of my childhood home, I explore what it is like to navigate such constrained environments. These images invite introspection and challenge viewers to consider how traditional spaces and values stifle the exploration of diverse identities.

Using Queer Phenomenology as a framework, I aim to investigate how queer people orient themselves and how spaces and objects are shaped by heteronormative expectations. This ongoing project will culminate in my thesis, expanding on the interplay between identity, space, and orientation. 

More information about Sophia Dell'Arciprete at sophiadellarciprete.com

All photos are credited to the artist.