SARAH A. ANTHONY – www.sarahanthonyphoto.com
2017 Purchase Award Recipient
Artist Interview by Juan Madrid
This is an open series of interviews with the artists in the Photography Now 2017 exhibition.
“I was taken by this peaceful scene – the setting, the calmness on his face, his rather relaxed stance for it being 30 degrees out – and this one point of tension in the image in the form of his fist. I felt it was a rather poetic representation of the clash of sweet, harmless youth, and aggressive, protective manhood. That is exactly what I am after in this work.“
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1. Where are you from, and what is your background in photography? How did you get into photography?
I am from Syracuse, NY. I studied photography at Syracuse University in the School of Visual and Performing Arts. I have been working in the art field one way or another since my graduation in 2013. Last year I moved to the Boston area where I have secured a position as the registrar at the New England School of Photography. The pieces in PN17 are from a body of work I have been chipping away at for about six years. I got into photography as a kid. My parents gave me this small blue camera, and I chased the kinds in my neighborhood around, taking photos. When my maternal grandfather passed away, he left me his Konica SLR. This was right when I was entering high school, and was learning to work in a darkroom. I used to skip math class to go and work on my photos. Photography more or less became the driving force in my life.
2. What inspired you to make the work in Photography Now 2017? What is the work about? Please describe one piece, the evolution of the concept, and the process?
The pieces in the show are from my series, Brink. I began this work back in college at a rather critical turning point in my family. I began to grow conscious of a distinct shift in my younger brother, Connor, as he got to his teenage years and was witnessing all of these massive changes in the male role models in his life. I began to investigate this change in his personality, and his relationships with my father and older brother. Out of this process grew a more focused investigation on what it takes for a boy to become a man. Connor had a group of tight knit friends whom I watched grow up. I began to photograph them as well. I worked in two ways, thinking critically beforehand about the poses and images I wanted in order to convey specific themes – innocence, awkwardness, sexuality, cultural expectations, the subject’s inner struggle – but I also shot rather intuitively, responding to each boy artistically, emotionally and somewhat maternally. I made the piece that won the purchase Award, Deven Standing in the Snow, 2016, the day after Christmas. I am at a point in the project where I can only shoot the boys over their summer and winter breaks when they are home from college. Deven is a soft spoken, polite, and kind young man who is into video games and computer science. My shoots with him are quiet, without much joking around on his part. He is the epitome of calm and steady. On my way to his house, I passed by a large field at a park where all the neighborhood kids used to sled. I knew right away that I wanted him in that snowy field. After catching up and shooting a bit in his home, I asked if he might be up to going out in the fresh snow. I liked the idea of him being surrounded by all this pure white – maybe a metaphor for his youth. We marched out into the field and made some images. I often ask my subjects to close their eyes. I like that this takes away their opportunity to mean-mug it for the camera- something I learned early on with Connor that boys wanted to do, as if to prove their hardness. Deven began to close and open his fists to keep his fingers warm. I caught this and asked him to keep his fist closed. I was taken by this peaceful scene – the setting, the calmness on his face, his rather relaxed stance for it being 30 degrees out – and this one point of tension in the image in the form of his fist. I felt it was a rather poetic representation of the clash of sweet, harmless youth, and aggressive, protective manhood. That is exactly what I am after in this work.
3. Much of the work in Photography Now 2017 seems to describe a distance between the subject and the viewer, a disconnection, and/or a dystopian situation. How do you think your work relates to these ideas?
I will never really know what my subjects are going through as they turn from children to men. The closest I will ever get is by taking these images and trying to be as empathetic as possible. Nevertheless, I am inherently other. I may be aware but I will never know what it feels like to turn from boy to man. This is where the disconnection lives.
4. What are you working on now?
I have a lot of plates in the air at the moment. Earlier in the year, I collaborated with Meghan Bollard on a image sourced book project about Somerville, MA. Currently, I am working on several image sourced zines and tiny books. I have a video project about love, desire, and the immediacy of the digital age in the works. I am working on a series about my difficulties with sex, mental and emotional struggles, and health problems. I am continuing a 2- year project in which I ask every man in my life to photograph me however they please. Lastly, I will be returning home at Christmas time to shoot the boys.
5. What is the one photograph you always wanted to make but never could?
I was driving once to visit my Grandmother who lives in the foothills of the Adirondacks. It was late at night and I came around a bend and there was a small field that was on fire. I slowed down enough to look and call the police to check if it was a wild fire, but they told me it was a controlled burn. It was a low glow that lit the sky, light riding on the smoke. I don’t know what I was thinking, not stopping and digging out my camera. Maybe I was in a rush, my family would be worried over my late arrival. Maybe I was just too damn tired, I could barely keep my eyes open on the road. Every damn day I wish I had stopped and shot that field. That is lesson one in photography. Always stop the damn car.
General exhibition information:
Photography Now 2017
November 4, 2017 – January 14, 2018
Juried by William Ewing
Featured Artists: Lars Anderson, Sarah Anthony, Ben Arnon, Sandra Bacchi, John Barnard, Emily Berl, Adam Bernard, Christopher Paul Brown, Tianqiutao Chen, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Orestes Gonzalez, Tamar Granovsky, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Jeanette May, Zora Murff, Laurie Peek, Ceaphas Stubbs and Ayumi Tanaka.
See full exhibition information or exhibition guide (issuu.com).
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