Nancy Bowen's NUNU Fine Art Show Explores Language, Body, and History

Nancy Bowen's solo exhibition "From A to Z and the Bodies In Between" at NUNU Fine Art in New York runs through July 25, 2026. The show features dictionary collages and sculptures that challenge patriarchal language and traditional representations of the female body. In a conversation with psychoanalyst-artist Laurence Hegarty, Bowen discusses her use of vintage dictionaries inherited from her father and grandfather, which she cuts and reassembles into color-coded word collages that disrupt conventional syntax. Her sculptures begin with body fragments—breasts, buttocks—hand-built in clay, then combined with materials like aluminum, glass, and found objects. Bowen references Luce Irigaray's call for a liberated feminine discourse and her own family history, including ancestor Samuel Sewall, a Salem Witch Trials judge. A collaboration with poet Elizabeth Willis, a descendant of an accused witch, resulted in the book "SPECTRAL EVIDENCE." Bowen describes her practice as "artist-archaeologist," letting social and political themes emerge through play. The exhibition includes works like "Upstart" (cast aluminum, cardboard, plaster) and "Topsy Turvy" (glass, epoxy clay).