“There Are Not Many Rules in Art, but Being Honest Is One of Them”: In Conversation with Photographer Sarah Fuchs

Photograph by Sarah Fuchs

In the photography of Sarah Fuchs, light and shadow have a poetic function. Sarah has the ability to bring a subject to light, while leaving room in the shadows for seductive curiosity and imagination. Spare in detail, she orchestrates black and white in her photographs to create a visually interpreted sense of depth. Her colour photography, bearing traces of playfulness, is rich and free, yet another context with scope for the imagination, and her portraiture I can best describe as lyrical images that work more with character and the wonder of being than with physical beauty.

What started with travel photography has led in time to an artistic pursuit of a higher degree of abstraction, to new explorations, to a new ability to think in images in a more unconventional form and to the conviction that success is tied to one’s fulfilling one’s own artistic vision and not much else. With self expression, honesty and feeling at the center of her work, Sarah Fuchs is experimenting with an alternative perspective of photography, seeing it afresh.

Sarah’s work has been published in Kaltblut Magazine, Polka Magazine, Kyoto Journal, Passion Passport, YOLO Journal, The Culture-ist. She has two upcoming group exhibitions in Berlin, “The Look of Others” and “Soft”.

In our conversation, we talk about Sarah’s journey as a photographer, how her perception of visual beauty has changed over the years, Berlin, and turning to nature and her inner self as inspiration.

Photograph by Sarah Fuchs

Sarah, do you always carry a camera with you?

No, I don’t. I have to be in a particular mindset and, ideally, alone to take pictures. Obviously, this is different when I do a fashion shoot, but when I work on my projects I have to take a minute to get into the mode and slow down and tune into my surroundings. If I’m with friends, or in a rush, or on my way somewhere I am rarely able to just stop and take a picture and move on again. I need time to let the moment sink in.

A photographer once told me that his best photographs are still in his head. Are there moments when you feel you need to put your camera down even if you find yourself in that particular mindset to take pictures and just witness the moment?

Oh absolutely! I never take pictures at events, concerts, dinners, etc. Even when I work on my projects, there are moments when I realise I just need to take a break and a deep breath and be in the moment. It’s easy to start obsessing over getting the picture. I think my best work happens when I’m able to also let go.

What led you to photography? When did you know this was the path you wanted to pursue creatively?

It has been a roundabout journey to photography. I initially studied law and politics and worked in international politics and the NGO sector for many years. I was 28 when I decided I wanted to become a professional photographer. I think I resisted a creative career for a long time because of the uncertainty that comes with it. But the more I tried to make so-called sensible career choices the clearer it became that it just wasn’t possible for me to do it. Or rather, I wasn’t happy doing those jobs. I started getting into photography when I was living in South Korea and, initially, my way into photography was through travel photography. I was living all over the world and so I published my first pieces from all the places I lived in and visited. It was only when I moved to Berlin that I started pursuing the style that I’m currently working in.

”It’s easy to start obsessing over getting the picture.
I think my best work happens when I’m able to also let go.”

Was it hard to publish those first photographs?

It was easy enough to get them published in magazines actually. But mentally it was so hard! I struggled a lot to let go and just put my work out there. I was so afraid that people would judge it or not like it. It took a lot of time to get used to exposing myself like that. Especially as my work has gotten more and more intimate and personal.

”I think if we learn to look at the world with fresh eyes
we can see all the magic that is constantly going on around us.”

Photographs by Sarah Fuchs

Your project ‘Unwearied Still’ is an ode to Yeats’ poem ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’. Could you tell us a few words about this project? And what other artists do you find inspiration in?

I’m a very restless person. For most of my adult life, I have been constantly moving from country to country, changing what I do and where I go. So my biggest challenge when I started photography was that I kept running out of patience. I was constantly starting new projects and moving on to the next thing. And while my tempo and curiosity have allowed me to do a lot of work, it started to feel like a hinder at some point. I realised that, to grow in my field, I had to practice patience. So the series ‘Unwearied Still’ became an exercise in maintaining a routine and a consistent practice over a longer period. I take pictures of the swans in my neighbourhood almost every day, and I have been doing it for almost half a year now.

I find inspiration in a wide range of art and artists, it will be hard to list them all. I love surrealism. I’m a big fan of the work of Claude Cahun, Lee Miller, Dora Maar, and Florence Henri. I also love Czech Avant-Garde photographers like Jaroslav Rössler, František Drtikol, and Jaromir Funke.

”I realised that, to grow in my field,
I had to practice patience.”

Being observant and having your eye naturally tuned in to the world around you may often be the first elements that come to mind when thinking of photography. But what I find fascinating about your photography is that you approach it from different perspectives, imagination and illusion becoming part of your visual narrative. What is it that you seek to explore in your work?

I seek to find beauty in the unconventional, the uncanny, and the unexpected. I try to push the boundaries of what’s possible when reality is bent and reshaped through the lens and create imagery that challenges our perception of reality. What I love about photography is its ability to make the real unreal, and the unreal real. I think we are increasingly living disenchanted lives and I would love for my work, even for just a moment, to make people look and wonder what it is that they are seeing. To create a moment of surprise and a magical feeling. I think if we learn to look at the world with fresh eyes we can see all the magic that is constantly going on around us. Whether it’s a strange shadow over a face, or a sculptural shape of a bird in the water, or the bold colours of a flower. I love to think that even the most conventional thing can be mysterious and wonderful if we just look at it with new eyes.

I completely agree with you, we’ve lost that sense of wonder and belief in magic, a world we now seem to lose forever when we are no longer children, although I personally hope we don’t. Did you love stories as a child? Written or visual, or both?

I loved stories, and books a lot! I’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time in my own head and fantasy worlds. I was less preoccupied with visual stories. Films and photos didn’t matter to me as much until later in my teens. To this day, I love a good book that can transport me into a different world.

Photograph by Sarah Fuchs

Could you name a few of the books that made you dream the most or which had the most lasting impression on you?

As a child, I loved fantasy books. I don’t remember the specific titles of them anymore unfortunately. As I grew older, I got into Japanese and South Korean literature, specifically Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, and Han Kang.

Which were the films and photographers you were first drawn to when you began to be interested in visual storytelling?

I really love expressionist films, and I think German expressionism is very interesting and these films still inspire me today!

In the beginning, the photography I was drawn to was very rich in colour and texture. I would obsessively follow the work of the Magnum photographers. With time, I’ve come to see that type of imagery with a more critical eye, especially where western photographers travelled to other parts of the world and created a very narrow and orientalist representation of those places and people.

I agree and I have to admit that a few photographers have immediately sprung to mind when you mentioned this, the Western stereotypes about certain cultures and how they chose to focus on misery and pain leaving out positive aspects of those places. The fault is as much the photographers’ as the publishers’ who sold that image and message, I believe. You have lived in different parts of the world and travelled a lot. Has that fostered a deeper sense of empathy and understanding within you?

I think so. I have also been very privileged to travel a lot when I was younger, so I think the general exposure to different people and cultures from a young age made me a lot more aware of the different ways people live and to not judge or think of anything as better or worse than something else. My background studying international politics and law with a human rights focus further amplified this. Of course I will always have my context and my way of thinking about things, and it is hard to fully escape a mindset that is instilled by the society you grow up within. But I try to constantly learn and be open, and to question my own beliefs about things.

Photographs by Sarah Fuchs

And because you mentioned your German expressionism inspiration, do you prefer black and white, or colour photography?

My first love was colour photography, but I find myself drawn more and more to black and white photography. I think when it comes to portraits, I prefer black and white, but I also still love playing with bold and vibrant colours.

I play a lot with abstraction in my work, and I think there are certain shapes and subjects that are so familiar to us that it allows for a lot of abstraction. These kinds of subjects I prefer to photograph in black and white to really emphasise its shape and texture. A face is so recognisable to us that it can handle an extraordinary amount of abstraction. Similarly with hands. And animals like swans.

A defining moment for you as a photographer was: …

Perhaps a strange answer, but heartbreak was a defining moment for me as a photographer. Just after I moved to Berlin my 7-year-long relationship ended, and it left me with so much pain and confusion that I could only deal with through making art. The experimental style I work with now came out of that period. I was in disarray and so the photos I started making became as blurry and distorted and strange as I was feeling at the time. It was an incredibly liberating feeling. I felt like I had lost everything and that there was nothing left to lose. So I just started experimenting and playing with my medium. Before this time, I made very traditionally beautiful images. After the breakup, I think my images gained a new depth.

”I don’t think there are many rules in art,
but I do think being honest is one of them.
It is the hardest part about being an artist.”

What does now a beautiful image mean to you?

Oh, that is a tough one. The first answer that pops to mind is an image that is honest. I don’t think there are many rules in art, but I do think being honest is one of them. It is the hardest part about being an artist. I don’t think there is anything more special than seeing an image or a piece of art that feels like the artist was truly honest.

That’s a precious lesson to be learned especially these days when there is such a blurred line between authenticity and artificiality. What keeps you grounded and trusting your own voice?

I believe I have gotten better and better at just doing what I want to do, and not pursuing trends or creating images that I think people will like. And funnily enough, the less of a crap I give about what people think about my work, the more popular it seems to get! I think there is a big desire for authentic work and voices. This is still a work in progress for me, but it does give me hope that I’m on the right track. It has helped me to define success for myself as creating work that I am proud of regardless of other people’s opinions.

Photograph by Sarah Fuchs

That’s a fine and very sound, healthy, definition of success. What advice would you give someone struggling to change professional paths, or to find that something that make them feel fulfilled?

It’s so easy to look back at your past and wish for things to have been different. And it’s easy to get stuck thinking you have wasted time or that it’s too late to change.

My advice would be to not think about your younger self, or to think about all the time and effort that went into making other choices. If you feel like making a change or pursuing a creative career, then just go for it.

It will be hard, but it will be even harder to continue doing the same old thing.

You were born in Norway, you are currently based in Berlin, having lived in other parts of the world in between. Where do you call home?

Home has changed a lot over the years. Right now Berlin really feels like home, but it took time to get there. In the end, the place doesn’t matter that much, but the people that surround you. I have met some truly amazing people in this city, and I think Berlin now feels more like home than any place I have ever lived before.

“Berlin is, in many ways, a tough city, but it is also
a very open and honest city. And I like that a lot.”

What is the best part about living in Berlin and which you would miss if you lived anywhere else in the world?

I feel very free in Berlin. This could also be due to my age or the phase of life that I am in. Perhaps I would feel similarly in other cities at this time. But I happen to be feeling free here now. And it’s a place where a lot of outsiders find belonging. It is, in many ways, a tough city, but it is also a very open and honest city. And I like that a lot.

Do people make the place?

I think it’s both. This city also attracts a certain type of person that, in turn, creates the atmosphere that Berlin is known for. Without the remarkable history of Berlin, I don’t think it would be the kind of free-space it is today and has been for a long time.

Photograph by Sarah Fuchs

In this time and age, what do you wish people appreciated more?

Hmm, there are so many things I could list here. But I think kindness and weirdness and differentness. We are so fast at judging the things and people we don’t understand. This is not new, of course, but I do feel like we are all drifting apart and that there is little patience invested in understanding each other. I could probably write pages about this, and what I am sharing here is a massive oversimplification, but yeah, kindness and differences.

Sarah, one last question: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, preparing to take a photo, where would you want to be?

Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

Photograph by Sarah Fuchs

Website: sarah-fuchs.com | Instagram: @sarah.fuchs