Ezra Scriven (b. 2003), is a Chicago based sculptor from Portland, Oregon. She received her BFA in studio sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in their 2026 Presidential Merit Program. Her work is published in the fourth edition of New Eyes, a zine curated by visual artist Desmond Wendt.
Recent group shows: "Basalt," Nov. 7-19 2025, SAIC Galleries 33 E. Washington St, Chicago, IL
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​Ezra's practice centers themes of body dysmorphia within confinements of material empathy: soft and hard, comfort and ache, to squish or to be squashed. Materials are not passive; they decidedly shape the human experience. She conceives the body not as an image, but as the corporeal. Ezra manifests these tensions through a range of mediums including silicone, concrete, wax, and mold making. Over the course of her oeuvre, Ezra’s work has evolved from representational reproductions of forms into a desire for the material simulacra. She activates fat, skin, and physical structure by working with the symbiotic relationship reflected in the fact that we have conceived our environment out of our own sense of bodily organization. She disembowels; bringing into the space industrialized systems of comfort to establish the potent interchangeable language of body and architecture. Her materials do not limit themselves to the flesh. They are in every aspect of an individual's reality, insulating the inner workings of our existence; acknowledging our breathing walls. The process of mold making heightens the conceptual conditions involved in her work. Mother molds surround the soft flesh of the cast forming within the membrane of its solidified womb. A methodology that reflects feelings of protection and security, while addressing the fragility of a tangible future.