Katie O

SOS (2021) was presented as part of “This End the Sun,” on view at the New Museum from June 30–October 3, 2021. Strafer’s SOS (2021) interweaves fantastical scenes with the artist’s autobiography to address themes of human cruelty, power, and futility. The work cycles through scenes of night and day, with dolls as protagonists: a girl seemingly stranded on a snowy beach, an elderly man on a medical stretcher, and two EMTs who attend to him. Strafer employs strategies of doubling, interchangeability, and scale shifts, with large hands occasionally swooping down to animate, caress, and bathe the dolls—perhaps in acts of care and/or control. (New Museum)

A young college student and hopeful full-time professional model will soon realise that to find fortune and fame in this cut-throat profession, she'll need to go to great extents to accomplish her dreams.