Bio

I’m unsure what the future holds, I see myself making, I see myself living in the world of possibility. For years, the knock of potential has echoed, observing me dissolve in the face of uninspiration. A brief stint of unemployment unveils the source of my melancholy—a lack of inspiration, the antithesis of optimism, and the void left by the absence of creativity.

I can ignore the pressure of the world, of aging, of my gray hairs springing up like daffodils, if I allow myself to gather in the meadows of wonder, confusion, and excitement. And to find that refuge, one must approach the world with playful agendas. How absolutely harrowing is it, to know that the population must go on working under capitalism, how we all find ourselves under this leaking roof of insecurity and shame. How privileged you are as an artist, let alone a lucrative one, to be able to acknowledge and access parts of ourselves that are connected to each other yet unbeknownst to them. The suppression of the arts is rooted in the fear that if the population realizes the inherent artistic nature within, a collective awakening to the ability to introspect and romanticize life would ensue.
The lifestyle of the artist is the lifestyle of the human being, people would figure out how to heal from within, and from the earth. The owners of the roofing company would never want us to fix our own roofs.

I want to use the tools that built this current society as agents of transformation, to find autonomy in the tool. Sand-blast the centuries of outdated tone-deaf rust off, to reveal something as simple as man-made machine, to use it, with the finesse of a woman’s soft supple hand. I refuse to be afraid of the blade, the saw, the voltage, the explosive gas. In the midst of dust and sweat, I reclaim my body, mind and soul. Fabrication is what showed me my truth. And it was a woman who showed me the way. It was a woman who trusted me and saw me, and the only thing she said to me was “put your hair up”.


Leah Graup received her BFA from Kutztown University in May of 2019. She now resides in Philadelphia, PA. Leah’s work explores the mediums of sculpture and photography. Her work is composed of a variety of symbols, some domestic and recognizable, while others are her own renditions of symbols where the audience is asked to interpret the new language she has created with found or constructed objects. She aims to move forward with a sustainable approach to sculpture, repurposing materials, scrap metal and incorporating found and discarded objects.