Sarah Mei Herman
NETHERLANDS
Instagram @sarahmeiherman
Sarah Mei Herman graduated in Photography from The Royal Academy of Art inThe Hague, and in Fine Art Photography from London’s Royal College of Art. Her personal projects explore relationships, intimacy, loneliness, longing, and the human urge for physical proximity, often focusing on the vulnerability of transitory life stages.
Herman’s work has been exhibited internationally, at institutions and festivals such as The National Portrait Gallery, London; The Benaki Museum, Athens; Photo Elysée, Lausanne; Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse; The Jewish History Museum, Amsterdam; and the JIMEI x ARLES International Photo Festival, Xiamen. Her projects have been recognised by a range of prizes and awards, including the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, the Hyères Festival of Fashion and Photography, and the V&A Parasol Women in Photography Prize. Her work is found in several public and private art collections, whilst her images have been published by the likes of iD, Vogue Italia, Foam Magazine, Paper Journal and Dear Dave. In 2024, Herman’s second photo book – Julian & Jonathan – will be published by the London-based GOST Books.
• SERIES •
Solace
I was approached by Jurek Wajdowicz – an artist and director of the graphic design studio Emerson & Wajdowicz Studios (EWS) – to produce a related project about the LGBTQ+ community in China. EWS specialises in socially-conscious multimedia design and art; through a photobook series devoted entirely to LGBTQ+ themed stories, they showcase the diversity and complexity of queer communities around the world.
In September 2019, I returned to Xiamen to portray 14 young queer people – both individuals and couples – who I found through my existing network in the city. Alongside portraits of each person, and images of the private spaces they inhabit, Solace features interviews with each subject about life, love and their personal fears. Unable to return to Xiamen during the pandemic, I decided to continue the project in the Netherlands. Here, I photographed young members of the LGBTQ community who had relocated to Europe from China.
