I have known Sarah for a few years and have followed her work and life in some detail. This did not prepare me for my first home, studio visit, or rather, it prepared me perfectly. Sarah’s residence is not a container for her family and work but a piece in a series of her work, let’s call the piece, home. Although not completed, the interior is, wall by wall adapting to – Sarah, so that in time, it will be indistinguishable from her work, or dare I say, her.
Eyes, used to being attracted to or conversely, avoiding the objects in stranger’s homes will float along the narcotic theme of Sarah’s small address in Round Lake. Float along the grey walls, not painted in traditional sense, unless the painting you are referring to is the effort of an ambient, abstract expressionist’s work-in-progress. Her work is everywhere and she is embarrassed by that, hoping to replace it, in time, with that of others, but that would be a loss for visitors. Perhaps she could keep all guest artist work in one, Sarah-curated room, as she has done with her cabinet of curiosities, worth an hour’s contemplation on its own, or, with ample time for explanations and descriptions of provenance, a day … Is that a mummified bat? A human skull, femur and whatever could these small flasks have held? Correction, a proper census would require a weekend’s stay. I will return soon to capture Sarah at work and to be willingly imprisoned by the dream state, home.
Sarah is a master of image making and this extends, by what must have been great practice, to Sara herself. My hands held the camera, my eyes framed and focused, or so I thought, for Sarah had become the photographer. She shifted her weight, tilted her head, found the light and begged the pressing of the shutter, with deft remote control. I am not suggesting that this invalidates the portraits, but rather, I want to be clear as to their authorship. Succumbing in part, to this process was the only route to authenticity. I was not being blocked, prevented, but like the walls, adapting. The work is, upon uploading clearly mine, but also, Sarah’s. This is right. My next visit to photograph Sara working will bring another facet, expose another layer and a if not a deeper, a different truth.
