For the past few years, I've jokingly referred to a new, (entirely made-up) genre of punchy, immediately gratifying photos as "woah-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