Pappa Sleeping, by Sarah Small

Sarah Small
Born in Washington, D.C.
Currently resides in Brooklyn, New York

Website: www.sarahsmall.com

Work Statement
I make photographs that capture spontaneous, theatrical moments. These images serve as a serio-comic dreamscape featuring vivid candy colors, tight cropping and cinematic rhythm. Although each image can stand alone, they are meant to flow together like a line of film stills captured at climactic moments.

I explore the dichotomy between the severe and mundane, the odious and humorous, the grotesque and terrifying, the filthy, the erotic, the sexy, the uncanny, and the primal. This process yields work that is bound thematically by psychological content and emotional interplay.

The images provoke ambivalent and contradictory responses in the viewer--an enjoyable, yet mysterious imbalance, a rocking back and forth between projection and introspection. Viewers are unbalanced, but not out of sync.

Previously, I have focused on intimate subjects within my personal circle. As I refine my working methods, I find that I'm venturing beyond these bounds. Instead of waiting for pinnacle events to happen, I deliberately seek out and construct these moments in public life.

Bio
Sarah Small was born in 1979 in Washington, D.C., to two musicians. She spent her high school years photographing her freckled and (usually) cooperative younger sister, Rachel. In 1997, Sarah began her studies at the RISD where she was awarded a merit scholarship. Since graduation in 2001, her images have been showcased in publications including Life Magazine, The New York Times, Visionaire, Surface, Planet, Psychology Today, Playgirl, XLR8R, Resonance, Topic, and Shots Magazine. Sarah has received numerous photography awards and has exhibited in group and solo shows nationally and internationally.

When not photographing, Sarah spends her free time singing and performing with Yasna Voices, a small, Brooklyn-based Bulgarian Women's Choir. Every day for the past eight years, Sarah has taken a Polaroid of herself. She plans on pursuing this project for life.

Sarah's ambition is to carry on her search for images that move her, eventually nurture a family, and continue to engage all her musical interests.