photo by Lotus Porte-Moyel
Biographical Statement
Salomé Aydlett is a sculptural ceramicist based in Missoula, MT and received their BFA in Ceramics and BA in Spanish from The University of Montana in 2025. Originally from Winona, MN and a family of artists, Salomé grew up playing with clay. It is their first language and their child-like relationship to clay remains present in her work. Salomé’s work primarily centers on the human body and its physical connection to language.
In the rare times Salomé is not treating the studio as a hermitage, you can find them outside enjoying the sun or inside enjoying a good book.
Artist Statement
I am drawn to the anatomically incorrect. By ‘anatomically incorrect’ I mean distorted, deranged, haphazard, sideways, sometimes inside-out. Really, I mean that I’ve never viewed the body in a properly scientific way: the body isn’t layers of bone and tendon and muscle and skin, but rather a collision of words and grammars. The body is a three-dimensional language. This is the perspective I try to weave into my practice: figurative sculpture as a way to explore how the human body relates to language and its expression.
My work stems from a place of disembodiment and derealization. It’s a continuous visual exploration of what it feels like to exist in spaces where the predominant modes of communication don’t match with my own internal dialogue. Understanding my struggle with language is just as important as creating a space for it to comfortably exist, and in my current body of work, sculptural representations of myself congregate and create an external reflection of my own internal space. These self-representations are an amalgamation of thoughts, feelings, worries, and events given a physical form without the need for verbal intervention. My work asks the viewer to question and confront their conceptions of what comfort and communication should look and feel like. What do our own internal languages look and sound like, and how do we make sure they’re welcoming for both ourselves and others?
For example, my own personal struggle with ‘two-dimensional’ verbalized language (speech--both its understanding and expression) is inherent in my work. Melting, human figures meld to create indistinct and confused bodies that mimic the indistinction and confusion I often feel in the verbal world. Bright colours and dripping surfaces mirror the ways individual words sound to me. In a way, each piece is an ongoing sentence. A diary entry. A way to deeper examine the body/language relationship and push it towards a more intelligible and compassionate dimension.
photo by Michael Hart