Influencer, 2019 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
For the past few years, I've jokingly referred to a new, (entirely made-up) genre of punchy, immediately gratifying photos as "whoa-tography." While these thousand-points-of-punctum, far-from-subtle photographs hit viewers at first glance, there's miles of complexity below the surface, especially in the work of Toronto-based photographer Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart. Sage's photographs address critical issues related to human impact on the environment with a fun, surreal approach – keeping questions open without leading a specific answer or conclusion.
Sage's work first caught my eye on Instagram in 2017 – a self-portrait of the artist, clothed in kale, tomatoes, and eight baguettes while surrounded by 8 raccoons captioned "Follow Your Dreams." Since then, I've been drawn to her wildly playful, often elaborately staged images that call to mind photographers like Cindy Sherman, Sandy Skoglund, and Gregory Crewdson with new energy and imagination. In another image, "Urban Bath, 2018," Sage wades in a deep blue pond, covered in plastic spoons between two swans who seem unaware of her existence (I recently learned that Sage spent several days visiting the swans to gain their trust in participating in the self-portrait.)
The artist, only recently out of school is riding a wave of successes – The Magenta Foundation included her in their esteemed "Flash Forward" annual for 2019 and she was shortlisted for the 2020 PDN 30 (before the magazine sadly closed), and she recently published her first photobook Outside Inside, which you can get HERE. I spoke with Sage to learn more about her ideas and the process behind her wildly exciting work.
Jon Feinstein in conversation with Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Urban Bath, 2018 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Trumpet Swans © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Jon Feinstein: I've been following your work for a few of years now. When I first saw it on Instagram my reaction was simply " woah, what the hell is going on here? Awesome." Can you tell me a bit about your thinking and what's driving you?
Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart: Almost all of my pictures from 2017 (which is when I started) are directed at one particular person. I wanted to see what they thought about the photos, if they understood what I was trying to say, if they liked it: the photos articulated what I couldn't say directly to that person or what I couldn't find the words to describe. That's what is so great about visual imagery- it says so much that can't be put into words, and it can reach people on a given topic who normally wouldn't engage with what you have to say on the issue.
Now it’s a different story because people I don’t even know are looking at the photos. This is great. I still find that channeling all my energy towards creating for a specific person makes the best images because the photos become part of a dialogue that is already going on directly between us. Although there isn’t always someone to make photos for. So sometimes, I just make them for myself and hope that other people will like them. In the end, there are no restrictions or rules, so I don’t have a lot to lose, and I don’t have to force anything to happen. It's a great place to be!
Follow Your Dreams , 2017 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: What draws you to photograph yourself?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: It's probably the same reason people sky-dive, or ski down crazy steep mountainsides, or do anything risky without an obvious tangible incentive. It's my own bootleg, DIY version of adrenaline sports for an art-junkie who never liked gym class. The photos are the equivalent of retelling a story - I try to capture the feeling of it, like "look at how you made me feel, you made me feel like King Kong jumping off a building and so I went and did it!"
Including myself in the photo makes sense because it’s a message from me to you, so in a way looking at a self-portrait is like looking at someone you're having a conversation with and it discloses the personal nature of the image. I'm heavily invested in what I do, the images mean a lot to me, so I'm willing to accept a high cost of discomfort and pain to tell a story. I really want the other person to care.
Frog Time © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: How much pre-planning and previsualization goes into each image? What's your process look like start-to-finish?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: I pre-visualize everything in my head first. I don't take notes because they just get lost. Once I pick an idea it becomes an absolute obsession: it has to be, otherwise there's not enough incentive to commit to it and make it a photo! The preparation (imaginary dress rehearsals, observing where I want to shoot, getting to know the subject matter, figuring out logistics) takes several weeks, if not months in most cases. Using the swans picture as an example: the first step was gathering, cleaning and drying plastic litter that I had collected from the swans' pond after the ice melted. This, and the swans, became the inspiration for the photo and some of the collected plastic spoons and forks were actually used to make the costume.
Fall, 2018 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: How much time does each image take to make?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: The shoots themselves usually happen very quickly. Going back to the swans picture: I only had 5-10 minutes each day to actually shoot because the water was freezing cold. And because I'm shooting outdoors with wild animals, there's a lot of factors that have to come together just right. The swans in this particular pond would only interact with me and be nice between 4:00 and 6:30 in the morning, and I wanted the first blue light of the day reflected in the water, so I had to make sure it was a clear day in the very early morning. I went back into the water on like 18 separate occasions to shoot with the swans in that plastic forks and spoons costume. Some other shoots have not been so labor intensive but my rule of thumb is that once all the logistics are figured out, you have to go back and re-shoot each image at least three separate times.
Fall In Pontiac, 2018 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: Your website is mostly organized as "work" instead of being project-based. Do you see yourself essentially just working on one constantly evolving series? Does that even matter?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: I don't pre-plan the images, so the work evolves on its own just like you say. The photos are sporadic and all over the place because they were never meant to be anything other than parts of a correspondence - it's like intercepting a phone line at random intervals and hearing bits of information that occasionally make sense in a greater narrative, but most of the time are completely unrelated. I still like to work like this.
I didn't know much about the art world when I started so the concept of making project-based work, or even an artist statement, didn't seem that important at first. I wish I had done a better job with documentation because each photo could probably have been expanded into an entire sculptural video photo installation thing. But we take our life experiences for granted sometimes, and only realize later how special they were.
OK BYE! 2018 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Urban Stream, 2018 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: Food, swans, plastic spoons, plastic bags, fire, and water are recurring objects and images. What's the story behind this?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: There's a book by Stephen King called "On Writing", and in it, he says that he never decides on the themes in his books ahead of time, instead he just picks up on patterns that appear as he's writing and figures out their meaning as he goes. This way things emerge organically and in ways that you just can't premeditate. That's sort of how I come up with themes in my own work. I can't remember most people's names but I can tell you which bus stops have the best billboards this month and why they're effective.
Commercial art is such a heavy influence on my work and in (all of our?) lives in general that I have made many tributes to it using food because food is by definition something to be consumed. This sort of goes for all of the themes in my pictures- they represent something else that is really big and too complicated to be summed up in a sentence or two. I honestly have no idea where the fire thing comes from in my work though. Maybe just extreme emotional highs and lows.
© Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: Do you make any commercial work? I see a lot of potential fashion tie-ins and could imagine you getting hired to shoot fashion editorials for big brands.
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: I am always open to doing commercial work, it's a lot of fun. I don't have much contact with the commercial world, unfortunately - it would be great to make some friends in that industry. I did a photo series for a men's fashion label called PTRCRS this year and it went really well. My hair almost burned off though. It's nice to work collaboratively with people – usually, I am just on my own although in this case, the designer was in Italy and basically just gave me free rein to do whatever I felt like on my own at home. It would be great to work closely with a brand. That is my dream.
Worms, 2020 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: Who are some of your creative heroes or inspirations?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: Photojournalism is (in my opinion) one of the most admirable professions in the world and that's the genre that first inspired me to explore photography. I grew up worshiping the photojournalists Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale, Sebastião Salgado and Eddie Adams. Photojournalists actually have the power to change government policy with their images and that's what I ultimately find so impressive and awesome about their work. Maybe it's not super relevant to what I do in photography but these four are still so inspiring to me as human beings and as passionate activists. I consider what they do to be art, and they remind me over and over again that art has meaning.
The artworks on billboards, banners and magazine covers that cannot be avoided in public spaces are also very inspiring. They're like free lessons on lighting, composition, subject matter, etc. There's nothing better than a good bus stop billboard that piques your interest and holds your attention: it's useful to try and figure out why some public ads will catch your eye and others don't. If somebody has the skill and intelligence to create an ad that you actually enjoy, then there's something worth taking away from their work. I learned how to shoot my images by noticing styles and imagery in billboards/banners/magazine covers that attracted my attention and sparked a real emotional or thoughtful reaction.
Eggrise, 2019 © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: You recently participated in an artist residency in Japan. Did it impact or inspire how you think about your work?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: I didn't have a great experience with the residency itself but the experience of being in Japan was really beneficial. It became more of a renter-landlord dynamic where I was mostly left to my own devices, which wasn't that bad because people were very patient with me and I would have entire conversations with people over the google translate app on a regular basis if they didn't speak English... people were really patient!
The residency lasted 3 months. Something cool I learned about while in Japan was Tsukumogami. They come from Japanese folklore: when an object turns 100 years old, as the story goes, it becomes self-aware and is occupied by a spirit. So people would often throw things away before they hit 100 years old because tossing it would prevent it from becoming a Tsukumogami. I tend to think about garbage and objects a lot in my work so the stories about Tsukumogami help me explore those ideas from a new vantage point.
“Hey, how was your week?” 2017. © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
Feinstein: Congrats on a lot of recent exhibitions, awards, and press. Has any of it changed how you think about your work?
Szkabarnicki-Stuart: No I just keep chugging along regardless of whatever feedback I get. That being said I do apply for grants and awards and stuff because they help me with taking photos and I get to connect with, and sometimes befriend, very cool people who know a lot about art, and this is the best thing of all! Even if nobody gave me the time of day I would still be making photos. They're my voice and I speak better with them than with words –I couldn't just give it up even if I wanted to.