In Interoceptive Sensing, Kara Sloan presents visual interpretations of her body’s internal landscape as reshaped by chronic illness. Interoception—the body’s ability to sense and interpret internal signals—guides actions like eating when hungry or scratching an itch. But when those signals become disrupted, how does one navigate back to balance? Sloan responds by searching for a new map of the body.
Beginning with close observation, Sloan tracks where symptoms appear and translates these sensations into textures, shapes, and colours mapped onto figurative silhouette drawings. These studies evolve into textile and ceramic sculptures, where sensations are given physical form—drooping, stretching, and piercing through space. The chosen materials reflect the patience and care required to live with chronic illness.
The exhibition also explores how the body experiences time. Rather than following a predictable, linear structure, Sloan’s work exists within “crip time,” a concept described by theorist Alison Kafer as the altered experience of time within disabled bodies. Defined by disruption, delay, and adaptation, crip time creates space for presence, rest, and self-discovery.
Interoceptive Sensing invites viewers to reflect on their own internal geometries and consider curiosity and care as tools for reorientation and healing.
Curated by Thea Sleight, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre.
Artist Bio
Kara Sloan is a multidisciplinary artist and educator living and working on the traditional territories of the Siksikaitsitapii (Blackfoot Confederacy). She holds a BFA and BEd from the University of Lethbridge and has received both the Fine Arts Faculty Award and the Abbondanza Fine Art Scholarship. Sloan has completed curatorial projects and residencies at Gushul Studio and Medalta Historic Clay District.
Her practice explores the body’s role in perception and understanding through drawing, sculpture, textile, and ceramic work. Influenced by her background in athletics and education, Sloan examines how bodies interact with space, material, and environment, deepening her exploration of perception and embodied experience.
