About
Sayeda Misa Sourour is an Egyptian carny from the Jersey Shore. They will either swindle you or give you the shirt off their back. As a Muslim born on Christmas, she decided to take up woodworking to compete with Jesus.
Sourour starts off every morning with the same "50s Jukebox Favorites" cassette tape playing in the bathroom, Turkish coffee that boils over, no matter how hard they try, protein of sorts and copious amounts of supplements. LSD flashbacks happen on the daily as she's jointing and planing wood.
Sourour has lived a thousand lives as an ex-painter, puppeteer, slideshow wannabe, day-tripper, hooper, contortionist, post chef, baker, student, teacher, student, farmer, runaway, hippie (sadly), thru-hiker, disabled, dishwasher, delivery boy, nanny, addict, pizza maker, asthmatic chain smoker, failed barista, not-very-good musician, 2010 blogger, sober, hungry, loner, rebel, cowboy, false butcher, gluten-free cheater, clown, angle finder, and toaster wrangler.
While on hiatus from touring with the band Phish and the Dead, they developed an interdisciplinary sculptural art practice at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Walkin' My Dog, 35mm, Performance (2023)
Photo Credits: Abby Palen
Group Exhibitions
12/2023 Meter Room, Chicago, IL
07/2023 Anysquared: Home Not Home, Agitator Artist Collective, Chicago, IL
04/2023 ARTBASH, SAIC, Chicago, IL
03/2023 Voices Embodied: Uplifted, Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago, IL
01/2019 Eye Catching, Inspire Art Gallery & Studio, Dunellen, NJ
10/2018 Dark Arts, Above Art Studios, New Brunswick, NJ
09/2018 Present Yourself, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
06/2018 Art All Night, Trenton, NJ
Performances
04/2024 WAVEFORMS, Sound Performance, Asian Improv Arts Midwest, Chicago, IL
04/2024 knock, and the doors of perception shall opened unto you, Slash Slash Sense, Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago, IL
02/2024 Rabbit Foot Puppetry: Tunnel of infatuation, Ring of Fire, Performance, Agitator Artist Collective, Chicago, IL
01/2024 Untitled: Palestine, Chicago Puppet Fest: Nasty, Brutish & Short, Links Hall, Chicago, IL
12/2023 Watchfly, Puppetry Performance, Ratmass, Annoyance Theatre & Bar, Chicago, IL
11/2023 Sound Performance, Nonation Lab, Chicago, IL
11/2023 Sound Performance, Slash Slash Sense, Nonation Lab, Chicago, IL
10/2023 Watchfly, Puppetry Performance, Haunting of Avalon, In The Heart of the Beast Theater, Minneapolis, MN
09/2023 The Muffin Man, Performance, Ratmass, Annoyance Theatre & Bar, Chicago, IL
09/2023 Little Amal, Puppetry Performance, Chicago, IL
09/2023 Sixteen Candles, Performance, Nonation Lab, Chicago, IL
08/2023 The Toaster Continuum: Slash Slash Sense, Performance, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL
07/2023 Performance, Ratmass, Annoyance Theatre & Bar, Chicago, IL
07/2023 Rabbit Foot Puppetry: The Clown Car Rolls On, Puppetry Performance, Cincinnati, OH
07/2023 Untitled: Hair, Performance, Agitator Artist Collective, Chicago, IL
06/2023 Puppetry Performance, Stop Motion Plant, Chicago, IL
Awards & Residencies
2024 Agitator Gallery, Artist In Residency: Rabbit Foot Puppetry, Chicago, IL
2022 Merit based Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL