Photographer’s Transformative Series Brought Peace to Her Mind
All images by Sara Silks. Used with permission.
Many of us go through a healing journey during our life. A time we see the need to face what harms us, and move past it into a healthier state of being. Photography is a wonderful tool to help us navigate that experience, as is evidenced here by the incredibly talented fine art photographer, Sara Silks.
Silks’ work is a reminder of the harmony photography can bring to one's state of being. This is for both the creator and the consumer. Her series, Kaizen, leans into the placid environments we live amongst and the impact they can have on our mental health.
Each frame will gently calm your nervous system - they’ll bring some quiet to your mind. Rest into them and let everything else fade away. At the same time, you can learn more about Silks’ motivations for creating her tranquil imagery.
Them Frames: Hey Sara! Please talk to us about how your love of art was born…
Sara Silks: I have a bit of a didactic memory, which is both a gift and a curse. I remember things about events and people and things I have seen in a visual way, and it made me quite sensitive as a child.
I think I always drew things, and my mother took me to classes at our city’s museum early in my childhood, cementing the idea of an artist in my psyche.
My grandfather gave me a small Kodak instamatic camera, and my grandmother gave me an antique Kodak 1A pocket folding camera that had been in her family, which I still have today.
I became the family paparazzi at an early age. My work matured with time, and I include drawing, painting, and printmaking among my interests. I used both cameras until I was older, but I generally turned to drawing to express my creative impulses.
I taught photography for many years to support my own work, and it gave me a lot in return. I learned to manage my time, and I was allowed to experiment with film, analog, alternative, and digital processes every day. I look back and realize how much I was growing as an artist, even though I did not produce much personal work during those years. I will often tell people when they ask how long it took me to make something that it was “twenty years in the making.”
Them Frames: You describe your mind as a “cacophony of thoughts…”. How is your mind in this moment and how does photography help you manage your thoughts?
Sara Silks: This series was created during a time of great stress, with the world at a standstill and an apocalypse looming, at least in my mind. My brain could not shut out the noise of the world except when I focused on creating images, and drawing. When I create or draw, the world dissolves behind me and I am transported, time falls away. I had a tough time focusing for a long time, letting the outside in.
Thank you for asking about my state now, things have sorted some and I have regained a way to simplify my day and my focus. I have found that if I remember to create from the inside out, and let the world be as it is, I am calm, centered, and productive.
Them Frames: Let’s look at Kaizen more closely. How did you develop the idea for how the series would look visually?
Sara Silks: I know what I want when I lift the camera and release the shutter, but I am doubly delighted when serendipity interferes and magical things occur in my images.
I am not sure that the idea was one of development. I think I just began a new process of thinking carefully about what was presented in the viewfinder, and the series articulated into the world on its own. I use my Instagram as a journal and workspace to identify color palettes and compositions that I am drawn to while working at any given time, and I saw the progress of the series there. Instagram is a useful tool for me, and less of a showcase for finished work.
Them Frames: This seems a deeply emotional project for you. What impact did it have on your state of mind during the process of creating the work?
Sara Silks: Some of my projects come in a burst of creative energy, and this was one of those. The images all came to me quickly, and were the result of more careful observation about what I was seeing in nature through the viewfinder. I think now about the idea of “shinrinyoku” and Japanese belief in the healing of forest bathing. I think I was calmed and healed during the process of creating the work.
Them Frames: For me, there’s an eeriness to the images that’s matched with a strong sense of beauty and wonder. What do you see when you view the photographs?
Sara Silks: I look at these images and see chromatic similarities and similarities in the light. Many of these are night shots, which is often my favorite time to walk, especially in the warm summer months. I see mystery and magic in the night, and that is perhaps what a viewer might sense.
The slightly dreamlike and fragmented qualities, with the details obscured and cool chromas reflect the beauty in imperfection. I see the healing dialogue between me and my subject in these works, and my personal journey. Thank you for seeing that!
Them Frames: If there was a song or album to be the soundtrack of this series, what would it be and why?
Sara Silks: Music plays an important role in my life, and it is ever-present. My taste is eclectic, and I listen to things while I work based on mood. For this series, I can imagine compositions by Sigur Ros, and other ambient, neo-classical and nature-inspired music to accompany the ethereal and contemplative nature of these images.
Them Frames: Finally, please finish this sentence: I need photography in my life because…
Sara Silks: Photography has provided me with a wonderful way to explore all the atmospheric layers of the world around me. It is one tool that I use initially to speed up my artistic process. It creates the underpinnings of much of my work that I could not create as quickly by drawing or painting. I also like the history of the medium, and watching it evolve and change.
You can enjoy more photography by Sara Silks by visiting her website and Instagram.
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