Mixed media artist Pam Cooper creates poignant and meticulously crafted installations that confront the social, political, and familial issues facing children today. Cooper’s paper-based sculptures and immersive environments all merge the visual language of nostalgia with the urgency of present-day crises.
For more than a decade, Cooper’s work has centered on children’s safety and vulnerability, whether inside the home, in the classroom, or at the hands of governments and social systems. Using handmade Abaca paper, copy transfer prints, and found objects, she constructs floor-standing and suspended paper houses, diminutive furniture, and room-sized installations that evoke both innocence and threat.
Cooper’s aesthetic draws from the look of a bygone era,pale parchment-toned paper, stylized figures inspired by old sewing patterns, and domestic details from vintage family photographs, yet her subject matter is urgent and contemporary. She illuminates the pressures facing children today: fractured families, the relentless influence of social media, and the persistent threats of violence, displacement, and exploitation.
Pam Cooper emigrated from the UK to the U.S. in 1990, becoming a citizen in 2000. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in 1994, where an internship at Dieu Donné introduced her to papermaking, now central to her practice. Every sheet of paper is made to the size and shape required for the work at hand, reinforcing the intimate, tactile quality of her installations.