Artists Statement
Our photography, video and performances blend together actual events, memory, humor, cultural and historical references. Our work reflects on both the reliability of conveying an experience, and a longing to deconstruct how memory functions, both individually and collectively as a culture.
For the past two years we have been working on a series of photographs titled “American Dream.” In this ongoing body of work we create highly detailed sculptures made from mostly recycled and found materials. We light these miniature scenes with a variety of continuous light sources and photograph with a high-resolution large format scanning back camera, producing highly detailed large photographs. The final prints are true to the scenes we create, we do not digitally alter or add anything other than color balance and exposure. In this aspect, we are deeply influenced by modernist and documentary photographers of the 20th century. A merging of personal experience, dreams and an “on the road” documentation of American culture inspire these miniaturized illustrations.
Our video series, “Memory Lab,” documents solo performances that reflect on characters taken from American pop culture of the 1970s and 1980s. These characters, such as Road Runner, and The Smurfs marked both our childhoods even though we lived on different continents and globalization was not nearly as advanced as is it today. The essence of our memories is explored as we reflect on each character's influence on our lives; concurrently each viewer is invited to do their own reflections by listening to the theme songs that mask our voices. A still image of a sculpture made during the performance along with a 30 second video are the final pieces.
Learning to compromise through collaboration is both challenging and exciting; merging creatively is complex but mostly rewarding. We view the American Experience very differently. Sabrina was born in South America, Brazil, is multilingual and multicultural. Jeff is a sculptor and potter as well as a photographer. We are both fascinated by how photojournalism has defined, or attempts to define, history. The blending of photography, sculpture, and drawing to form a new documentation compels us both forward.