Bio

Sophia Cardillo is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and doula. She creates work in textile, sculpture and performance art that provide form for the bodily experiences of giving, loving and suffering as she herself carries out her roles of mother and caregiver. In addition to serving parents through the entire perinatal period as a doula, Sophia facilitates virtual support groups and healing, somatic storytelling workshops around themes of embodiment and mothering. In February 2022 she made a series of films documenting the pregnant body through intuitive movement and dance during an artist residency with Dear Artist With Anxiety. She earned her BA in Urban Studies and Theater from Wheaton College, IL. She currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and two children.

Artist Statement

Sophia collects and works with materials and mediums best suited to communicate the concepts of caregiving, suffering and healing. Currently her work reflects the total transformation of motherhood by weaving soft sculptures from postpartum disposable underwear. The sculptures emulate the paradoxes of the postpartum body: the softness and hollowness after birth in the texture and shape of the baskets are juxtaposed with the tight muscles and tissues in the threads holding the forms together. The tedious process of weaving mirrors the repetitive and ritualistic tasks involved in caring for one's children and one's own bodily needs.In addition to the body and its biological functions being the primary metaphors and imagery of her work, the body is the primary medium for storytelling. Through intuitive movement, dance and improvisation, she works to embody the inner experiences she encounters in motherhood. Capturing this process on film and layering it with voice-over audio of her own poetry and essays brings the process full circle to create performance art films.