Syd Lee is an interdisciplinary artist based in her hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada whose disciplines range from printmaking, painting, and beadwork to film, photography, and stop motion. She earned her BFA in studio art with a minor in film studies from the University of Denver in 2024. She was awarded the Davis Award and Senior Thesis Grant while attending the School of Art & Art History at the University of Denver.

She currently works as an art instructor and freelance commercial editor in Las Vegas, and previously worked as a curator and gallery administrator in Denver’s arts district. Her work has been exhibited in over a dozen exhibitions, including most notably an exhibition at Redline Contemporary Arts Center and the F*Bomb exhibition at the Vicki Myhren Gallery, being honored to share a space with her feminist artist idols Sarah Gjertson, Karen Finley, and the Guerrilla Girls.


Artist Statement

Art first and foremost for me was a way to express my voice, sometimes a therapeutic outlet for emotions, experiences, and opinions I couldn’t otherwise express. My signature kiss print became a symbol of how each piece I create is an intimate and vulnerable piece of myself I share, an expression of my blood, sweat, and tears which go into each piece.

Through a multidisciplinary practice that merges traditional craftsmanship with contemporary media, I create works that invite reflection on our relationships to consumption, representation, and the environment. My artistic practice explores the intersections of environmentalism, activism, craft, and contemporary culture through the lens of women's experiences and representation. I create layered narratives that examine the ways personal and collective stories are constructed, consumed, and remembered. My use of screen-printing specifically recollects a history of dissemination of activism in underground subcultures.

Central to my work is the use of up-cycled and repurposed materials. By transforming discarded objects and textiles into new forms, I challenge ideas of value, consumption, and waste while highlighting the environmental impact of mass production and popular culture. This process of reclamation becomes both an ecological gesture and a metaphor for the recovery of overlooked histories, voices, and labor.

Drawing inspiration from traditional craft practices often associated with women's work, I use techniques such as embroidery and beadwork to elevate forms of making that have historically been dismissed as decorative or domestic. These methods serve as tools for storytelling, allowing me to weave together narratives that address gender, identity, labor, and cultural memory. Through this approach, I seek to honor the generations of women whose creative contributions have been undervalued while reimagining craft as a powerful site of resistance and expression.

Pop culture references play a significant role in my work, functioning as both familiar entry points and critical frameworks. By incorporating imagery, symbols, and influences from media, fashion, film, and music, I investigate how women are represented, commodified, and mythologized within contemporary visual culture. I am interested in the tension between empowerment and objectification, visibility and erasure, authenticity and performance. Ultimately, my work seeks to foster dialogue, inspire critical engagement, and celebrate storytelling as a means of connection, advocacy, and cultural transformation.