Isabel Sasse
Your name/title
Isabel Sasse / Photographer
Where are you based?
Byron Bay / Melbourne
What is the story of your brand/work and how you would like it to evolve?
I picked up a camera close to a decade ago now. My intentions for this next year is leaning towards print more so — Holding space in galleries through exhibitions both around Australia and Los Angeles end of the year, a solo exhibition, compiling all my written pieces and imagery into a hardcover book and continual expansion with commercial work and labels.
What is the message or intention that you want to express through your work/product/service?
An instilling of introspection at a deeper level. I want to knock the breath out of people — Through a holding of strength and softness in equilibrium. Everything is curated to perfection these days and every bone in my body is exhausted from witnessing. I want to tear those foundations down. I want to embody vulnerability and humanity in a very raw and honest form; To be a crack where the light slips through. We are human, and we connect through honesty. We all worry too much, too often. We are lonely. We all want to be held. We have an intrinsic need to be understood — So let’s talk about it.
My movements are further away from what keeps me safe, or from what looks good because I’m not interested in what looks good. I want to look at my work after an exhibition or after I see it published somewhere and think “Where did that come from?”
What inspires you and helps you get into a creative flow?
I read through all my architecture books with a cup of Genmaicha in hand. I sit with thoughts of how I can carry philosophies and intentions of refined structure, simplicity and the dialogue of detail into my own visual works.
What daily rituals do you create for yourself?
I always take a moment for tea. A moment for sinking into the ocean. Any moment that allows for a leaning into myself; whatever form that comes in at the time. Sweet within still. — ‘Ritual takes thoughts that are known but unattended and renders them active and vivid once more in our distracted minds. Unlike standard modern education, ritual doesn’t aim to teach us anything new; it wants to lend compelling form to what we believe we already know. It wants to turn our theoretical allegiances into habits.’ Alain De Botton
What does surrender mean to you?
Water, everywhere.
What does sustainability mean to you?
Tomorrow is too late. All we have is now.
What does emptiness evoke for you?
Self-inquisition.
What is a motto/quote that inspires you?
The amount of quotes I have stored in my mind are monumental; — “James Baldwin writes about suffering in the healing process, stating: “I do not mean to be sentimental about suffering—but people who cannot suffer can never grow up, can never discover who they are.” Growing up is, at heart, the process of learning to take responsibility for whatever happens in your life. To choose growth is to embrace a love that heals.”
@isabelsasse
www.isabelmariesasse.com
