OLIVIA STERLING

Olivia Sterling’s work investigates the complex relationships between race, the body, and consumption through scenes drawn from everyday life. Her practice combines a critical sensibility with humour and a cartoon aesthetic, revealing dynamics of othering, desire, and power through compositions that are at once playful and visually striking. In her tightly framed scenes, vinteractions between body parts, gestures, and food foreground connections between consumption and objectification, while vivid colours, defined contours, and coded lettering draw attention to the arbitrariness of social and racial classifications. Sterling’s paintings invite viewers to engage with the subtle tensions and structural biases embedded in ordinary moments.