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According to Sam Fein’s website, “Sam Fein is a contemporary painter who explores human relations and emotional conditions within social frameworks of power. Drawing upon her upbringing in the American Southwest, Fein fuses memory and imagination with present-day events.”
I recently caught up with her to talk a bit about her life and work.

Doug Holder: First, how has it been for you living and working in Somerville?

Sam Fein: I have been part of the artist community at Joy Street Studios for the last 5 years. When I relocated to Boston, it was so important for me to find studio space in a shared building so that I could build my creative network and be a part of the local artist community. With all the development happening around us, many artists are concerned for the future viability of Somerville’s creative community.

DH: According to your website you were brought up in the Southwest, and this informs your work. How so?

SF: I grew up in Southern Arizona, and oftentimes my artwork incorporates visual references unique to the Sonoran Desert. For example, my paintings incorporate desert creatures such as gila monsters and cacti that can only be found in the region. These images connect me with my upbringing. I also appreciate the metaphor of living beings needing a prickly exterior in order to survive harsh conditions.

DH: From the paintings I viewed it is clear that you use vivid colors, characters, and there is a lot of movement going on. There is also a very dark undercurrent going on, too. Explain.

SF: I create densely-layered narratives that fuse personal history and imagination with ongoing research and present-day events. The result is a form of visual storytelling that is both comedic and bizarre. I embrace paradox and complexity within the lived experience, and it is thus fitting that my narratives express abstract ideas in a nuanced, complex manner.

DH: Tell us a bit about some projects you have been working on.

SF: Last year I received a curatorial fellowship from ApexArt, and I have spent much of this last year creating the interdisciplinary art exhibit, The Corrections. The Corrections is directly inspired by my work as a grassroots organizer, and showcases artwork by survivors of institutional abuse. The participating artists draw upon their first-hand experiences to expose the inner workings of the multibillion-dollar behavioral modification industry known as the Troubled Teen Industry (TTI). The exhibition is a form of activism, empowering survivors to resist the institutions designed to silence them and celebrating their resiliency and dedication to fight this carceral system.

DH: Can you tell us a bit about your work as a community organizer and educator, and how it fits in to your creative life?

SF: As a grassroots organizer, I am passionate about disability justice, decarceration, and keeping vulnerable populations in their communities. I work with survivors of institutional abuse and educate and advocate for youth currently held in congregate care settings. The recurring themes in my work as an organizer oftentimes spill into my work as an artist. In my creative practice, I am interested in social frameworks of power, how they are expressed in relationships and embodied internally. My recent project The Corrections directly confronted some of these issues and included a protest at the Massachusetts State House to #StopTheShock. Activists of the #StopTheShock campaign are asking lawmakers to pass MA Bill H.180, legislation that would ban the use of physical pain in congregate care settings as well as other practices that deny a reasonable existence for people with disabilities. There will be another protest when Bill H.180 is brought to a hearing this fall.

DH: Why should we view your work?

SF: By design, so-called “corrective” institutions remove a person from society. My work challenges assumptions about how it is entitled to inhabit civil society and who “deserves” removal. I present uncomfortable truths about society’s ongoing use of surveillance, confinement, and forced removal. I also give voice to experiences that are overlooked by mainstream society. My hope is that my work elicits feelings of compassion, understanding, and support for community-based alternatives.