Maureen   March 7, 2008 3:17 PM

Hi Steve,
Can you please explain Sarah's use of 'figurines' alongside her photographs?
Thanks,
Maureen

Steven Maticjio   March 10, 2008 1:28 PM

Hi Maureen, thanks for the question about Sarah's work.

The figurines have been an integral component of Sarah's practice, but their role (and visibility) has shifted over the course of her major bodies of work. Made of "Sculpey" and standing approx. 6-7 inches high, they are intricately crafted but often unfinished - consisting of just enough detail to make a convincing photo (rather than standing as sculpture in the round). For this reason Sarah did not exhibit any of the actual figurines alongside "Tree Planting" - keeping the focus on her photos, and the ambiguity of which ones were "real" and which ones were "staged."

For the Galapagos body of work, Sarah and I decided to show the figurines in the same context as the photos. At this time she had begun to venture more seriously into painting and drawing, and the figurines made more sense in this cross-disciplinary forum. Their lack of finish also spoke aptly to the character of the Galapagos series as an unfinished, conflicted utopia that Western expectations "completed" by overlooking problems.

I'm not sure where Sarah will take the figurines in her next body of work, but her continuing interests in stage design and sculpture suggest that these small, idiosyncratic beings will be involved. They embody "process" in a theatre of the ideal, and speak as much to vulnerabilities and failings as they do to aspirations and illusion.

Steven - Advocate   March 19, 2008 12:11 AM

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for your reply. The people at the AGO are blog wizards, so I'm copying my contact at the Gallery on my response so that she may post both your question and my reply onto the blog portion of the Grange Prize website.

"Pink Sunset" is an intriguingly cross-disciplinary image that illusrates a number of Sarah's interest and skills across a smoky, but telling horizon line. Unfortunately we cannot list a wider selection of Sarah's many images on the website, but I was equally captivated by her representation of a moonlit sky in the Galapagos Series. Using basic craftstore materials and the innate illusions of the camera lens, she constructed an image that covered its seams with sheer romance - willing the viewer to overlook his/her suspicions and embrace the moment.

With the advent of digital photography and Photoshop our skepticism toward the honesty (and integrity) of photographic images has never been more acute. The aforementioned moon image and Pink Sunset subdue these fears with the idealism of art history. Pink Sunset incorporates set design, folk art ingenuity, and compositional plotting into a hub for traditionally discrete media to convene. In the process, Sarah re-routes our instinct for a closer look to a place where the construction of the image fades into the mystery of its reception.


Thanks again for your question, and please let me know if you have further comments.

all best,
Steven

Steven   March 31, 2008 1:58 PM

Sarah, your two previous bodies of work explored the relationship between imagined expectations and lived realities in Northern Manitoba
(for Tree Planting) and the Galapagos Islands. How has China met your expectations? What has surprised you the most?
Steven Matijcio

Hi Steven,
Initially, I was somewhat taken aback by people's public behaviours. At home most of us adhere to the same rules of public decorum. This makes life easier all around. In Beijing our rules for polite public behaviour do not seem to apply. I thought people were quite rude, cutting in line, spitting on the sidewalk and practically running you over when you are trying to cross the street. However, I have found that these are superficial things. What really matters is that after spending as little as 5 minutes with someone you have made a true friend who will take the time to help you run errands or show you around, even if takes half a day. So I have come to appreciate the people with whom I have had contact because in the ways that really count they are terrific. The rest is pretty inconsequential.

The amount of construction going on is staggering. Buildings are being torn down and rebuilt so quickly that it seems as though new neighbourhoods are born every morning. The city is in a constant state of flux, with construction going on 24 hours a day.

Finding metaphors in the landscape to describe both this situation and my experience is challenging. That being said, I have been shooting religiously and think I am onto something, although it is too new to discuss just yet...
Sarah Anne Johnson