This picture is called Invasion of Everything That Was Restrained. It's basically a lot of paper balls hanging in the air. They're meant to represent ideas that you had but didn't follow through on: they're still around, invading your space.
It was very simple to set up. I hung the paper balls up with transparent line then shot the picture. Afterwards, on the computer, I had to remove a couple of bits of string that were visible; but other than that, it's all as it was.
I took the shot for a big exhibition in Brazil in 2005 called Between the Rain and the Snowman, a line inspired by the lyrics of Leonard Cohen's Love Calls You By Your Name. When I listened to the song, I started to think about the relationship between rain and snowmen, which I realised was very circular: the rain comes, we get a freeze, we make a snowman, it melts and we start again.
I shot it in a corner of my studio in Brazil. So the bits of paper represent all my own bad ideas, the projects I never finished – and they are invading my space, for real. But the picture is meant to be about more than my own personal life: it's about the life that everybody leads.
My titles are all important. They are the starting point for the work. But the combination of title and picture is like a marriage – sometimes it works incredibly well, sometimes it's not so good. My work is about action. I construct all my photographs, almost like sculpture or an installation. But I use very simple elements, just the things we have around us, to say something important and poetic. It needn't be complicated.
Sara Ramo: Movable Planes is at the Photographers' Gallery, London W1, until 31 January.
CV
Born: Madrid, 1975
Studied: Went to university in Brazil at the age of 21. "But you need to discover art on your own."
Inspirations: Brassaï, US photographer Francesca Woodman.
High point: "A very experimental piece for the Venice Biennale."
Top tip: "I feel I am always learning. I start every day fresh. That's the best way for the artist to be."
No comments:
Post a Comment