Rooke Hyde

Rooke Hyde’s work explores the disjunction between the body and self, and how identity is shaped, or distorted, by societal systems. Society has built an environment that erases and deforms queer bodies; because of this, as a young adult Hyde struggled to see how their body and identity could exist in the world. Their practice, in turn, explores this, and uses the figure as a subject in a wide array of materials to show both our relationship to the built environment and the ways in which we are a part of that environment. 
 
Through using the figure, Rooke Hyde can spotlight how queer bodies both struggle with and persevere within dominant culture. The figure as a sculpture can exist in a state of being that would be impossible to maintain through performance or other representation, while still allowing for an empathic connection. Hyde’s figures are passive to their state of being, but continuing to exert their presence in space. 

This combination of the figure and material can be seen, as an example, in Rooke Hyde’s Enduration Series. Paper figures are placed into spaces which reshape them due to the interaction between that material and the environment—be that a courtyard weathering the paper in the rain, or a foundry igniting the paper from a stray spark. These interactions physicalize the relationships to the societal systems which so often go unseen.  

The society which we inhabit may not make space for queer identities or representations, but we can. Through highlighting of the queer body as both a disrupted and disruptive presence, Hyde creates space for new ways of existing and relating to our world. 

Bio
Born in Boston, MA—Rooke Hyde is a genderqueer contemporary sculptor and performance artist who investigates the body as an imperfect, mutable form for our identities. Hyde studied sculpture at the Maine College of Art in Portland, ME where they received the presidential scholarship for artistic excellence. After receiving their BFA, Hyde was awarded an alumni residency at the College mentoring undergraduates and continuing their practice as part of the Maine College of Art community. Since 2014 Rooke Hyde has been an active member of the Boston arts community, working as a Preparator for Boston area galleries and the ICA Boston while also exhibiting as a local emerging artist. Hyde started their MFA in Sculpture and Dimensional Studies at Alfred University’s School of Art and Design in 2019 and in 2020 was included in the “Best of SUNY” Student Art Exhibition in Albany, NY. This summer Rooke Hyde looks forward to continuing their practice at the Salem Art Works Residency program with the generosity of their Independent Artist Scholarship.