Sarah Barker
Artist Statement
I created this series, "The Ascent of Us", from the unexpected gift of Covid-safe connected-isolation during the southern hemisphere winter of 2020.
The shadows of the people who pass beneath my balcony each day don't reveal their skin colour or race, their politics, their faith or their sexual identity.
But the shadows do tell us something about our shared humanity.
The title of the series refers to "The Ascent of Man" by British mathematician Jacob Bronowski and the "Us" comes from the "They are us" speech made by the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, after the Christchurch massacre.
I live and work on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia, where I began my career as a photographer's assistant in a commercial studio in the late 1970s. I make portrait, social documentary and street photographs and my work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally. Throughout my career I have also worked as a volunteer photographer for a number of not-for-profit organisations.
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