Artist Profile Sara Nabulsi

Nabulsi’s spirited, and richly salvaged microcosm reimagines kin from detritus.

Artist Statement

Scraplings is a miniature diorama built entirely from discarded and recycled materials. It imagines a strange, feral world where mechanical rats and frog-like creatures crawl through mossy sludge and live among trash. Each figure was sculpted from broken plastic, wire, circuit boards, and found metal, blending natural decay with human detritus. There’s playfulness and absurdity here, but also a warning: the things we leave behind, we leave behind forever. Nothing in this world biodegrades, not really. These creatures didn’t ask to inherit our garbage, but they’ve adapted to it—wearing it, surviving in it, even thriving in spite of it.

This piece is meant to be viewed from all angles, pulling you in close to notice every bit of scrap turned relic. Every element is handmade, repurposed, or scavenged—from the gears embedded in the creatures’ backs to the tiny “Keep Out” sign. Scraplings is a love letter to rot, resilience, and the lives that might emerge from what we leave behind.

Artist Biography

Sara Nabulsi is a Palestinian-American multimedia artist based in Baltimore, Maryland. By day, she works as a front-end software engineer; by night, she’s soldering, sculpting, stitching, or scavenging. Her work blends recycled materials, traditional techniques, and digital tools to explore identity, resistance, and play. She sells her work to raise money for mutual aid and grassroots causes, keeping every part of the process personal and handmade.