Sarah Mei Herman
"Between Us"

Exhibition: 11 April – 10 May, 2014
Opening: 10 April, 17:30 – 19:30

Sarah Mei Herman’s intimate portraits exude a feeling of desire, a longing for physical closeness with others. Yet they also portray a sense of loss, that which might be lost. Herman is fascinated by the things between people that are hard to put into words: an exceptional power of attraction or an inexplicable capacity for intimacy. Herman’s subjects are enclosed by an immediate physical or emotional tension that is deeply touching. The tension is bolstered by a stillness that is common in all of her work. In that stillness, it seems that time briefly stands still, that sound is suddenly silenced. No words are spoken, but so much is conveyed.

The occasion for the exhibition at Kahmann Gallery is the newest series by Herman, which she shot in Ireland. It’s with this series her work reaches maturity and fulfills the promise she made with her earlier work. In the exhibition Kahmann Gallery will also be showing new work from Herman’s ongoing series on her half-brother Jonathan and her father Julian. She aims to capture the unusual relationship between the three of them: “Throughout the past years I have been photographing my halfbrother Jonathan alone or together with his (and my) father. I’m interested in the “triangular” relationship between the three of us. My memories as a young child, of the relationship with my father, are now in a way mirrored in my half-brother. By photographing Jonathan I try to approach our unusual sibling-relationship which I am part of at a physical distance. This work is about this part of my family, as well as the relationship between a relatively older father and his young child.”

Herman finished her master degree in photography at the Royal College of Art in London in 2010. She has received several grants from the Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds and the Mondriaan Fund. Herman was honourably mentioned at the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward 2010 award and was selected to publish her portfolio in Foam Magazine Talent 2010 edition. She has had several national and international exhibitions, among others at The National Portrait Gallery in London and most recently a solo exhibition at the prestigious Le Chateau d’Eau in Toulouse.

Sarah Mei Herman (Amsterdam, 1980) has been recognized as one of the most promising photographers many times since her graduation from the Royal College of Art in London and has been featured in numerous exhibition and publications. Kahmann Gallery will show new and exciting work by Herman in the exhibition Between Us. With these new works, Herman is taken from mere young talent to one of the most exciting photographers working today.