Fiber Sculptures Investigate the Influence of Social Media on Women’s Identity
Glimpse, 2025. String, yarn, discarded electrical cable, rubber tube, elastic cord, foam, and cloth.
Sculptural threads twist, spiral, and vibrate with an almost electrifying energy in the creations of Sato Sugamoto. Employing vibrant fibers and electrical wires, Sugamoto forms complex, knotted shapes that suggest the hidden structures of human cognition. Grounded in her experience of traversing Japan’s cultural norms, Sugamoto’s work embodies a continual negotiation between societal compliance and personal freedom, depicting the inner landscape as both defined and precarious.
In her series Glimpse, Sugamoto focuses on the physical and emotional impacts of social media, creating a piece that is both alluring and critical. The work serves as an intricate tribute to the unseen currents of information that permeate modern life, illustrating the perpetual flow happening beyond our screens. Interwoven ribbons of color—evocative of fraying nerve fibers and electrical connections—produce a sense of urgency, emulating the adrenaline-fueled interaction of digital engagement.
At first glance, the composition feels immediate and engaging; however, its nuances defy such quick interpretation. Only through extended, detailed observation does its wavelike landscape fully reveal itself, positioning slowness as a subtle act of rebellion against the transient, surface-level engagements promoted by social media platforms.
The complexity escalates with Sugamoto’s own stance as an artist within these frameworks. Glimpse encapsulates her understanding of the contradiction involved in sharing art online: the transformation of labor-intensive, materially rich pieces into instantly digestible visuals. The piece serves as a pointed contemplation on complicity and involvement, mirroring the compulsive cycle of visibility and self-advertisement that characterizes contemporary digital culture. In this manner, Sugamoto not only illustrates the flow of information but also implicates both artist and observer within it.
While her project Glimpse delves into the external demands of digital existence, the Balance series turns inward, delving into the negotiation between women’s independence and the structures that aspire to define it. In this work, Sugamoto contrasts curved, organic shapes with sharp, rigid forms. The former represents the fluidity of women’s thoughts and bodies, while the latter symbolizes the imposed architectures of social expectation.
Materials historically linked to domestic labor, such as yarn, further root the work in a gendered context, while simultaneously reimagining these materials as sources of strength rather than constraint. They swing between tension and release, their shapes conveying both delicacy and resilience. Instead of presenting vulnerability as a defining trait, Sugamoto highlights resilience as a cumulative force. The incorporation of industrial pipes into her compositions reinforces this dynamic. Fragile fibers become structural elements able to support weight. Thus, the works articulate a complex balance: women do not merely resist societal demands but absorb and transform them, weaving these forces into their evolving frameworks of strength.
Across both series, Sugamoto’s practice is characterized by a temporal aspect that defies immediacy. Her labor-intensive, handcrafted methods reflect the gradual circulation of energy within the body. This temporality starkly contrasts with the accelerated pace of modern life, urging viewers to rethink how meaning is created—not in the moment of consumption, but through prolonged engagement.
By manifesting the intangible, Sugamoto crafts sculptural spaces that are both personal and expansive. Her work does not just illustrate internal experiences; it reconstructs them, providing a tactile and spatial encounter with the influences that shape our thinking, feeling, and existence within increasingly intricate social and technological frameworks.
Sato Sugamoto’s fiber sculptures transmute the imperceptible stream of digital communication into immersive, tactile forms.
Glimpse, 2025. String, yarn, discarded electrical cable, rubber tube, elastic cord, foam, and cloth.
Glimpse, 2025. String, yarn, discarded electrical cable, rubber tube, elastic cord, foam, and cloth.
Through woven materials, these artworks explore the tension between women’s independence and the frameworks that aim to shape it.
Balance, 2025. String, yarn, cloth, foam, copper, aluminium, iron, brass.
Balance, 2025. String, yarn, cloth, foam, copper, aluminium, iron, brass.
Balancing fragility and strength, these labor-intensive sculptures unveil how internal resilience evolves through persistent negotiation with external influences.
Balance, 2025. String, yarn, cloth, foam, copper, aluminium, iron, brass.
Balance, 2025. String, yarn, cloth, foam, copper, aluminium, iron, brass.
Glimpse, 2025. String, yarn, discarded electrical cable, rubber tube, elastic cord, foam, and cloth.
Sato Sagamoto: Website | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to showcase photos by Sato Sagamoto.
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