Sara Naim is a NYC-based photographer whose work explores the interconnectivity between objects, people and events in everyday life. Born in Damascus and then brought up in Dubai, she came to London to study photography before moving to New York to work as a photographer's assistant. For her latest project she decided to take fifteen pictures every week to document her life. The results, 'Fifteen Fucking Fotos for every Filthy Friday', is a mixture of mundane domestic life, hanging out in and around New York, and the exotic places she has travelled to for work. She has also embarked on a high-concept series called Dawn to Dust, in which she took pictures of skin cells under a microscope to create images that look like the beginning of life and then like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Dazed Digital: Why did you decide to become a photographer?
Sara Naim: Because I like what I see.
DD: What is your work about?
Sara Naim: Translating philosophies into visual metaphors.
DD: Where did you get the idea to do fifteen pictures every Friday and how did you decide what to photograph?
Sara Naim: I like groups or sets of images that complement and contrast. There are little stories throughout the photographs,. Within that, I try to photograph the now.
DD:How were these pictures taken?
Sara Naim: Various 35mm cameras. My conceptual projects are usually shot on medium or large format, hosted on my website, but its refreshing to shoot 35mm.
DD: What was your latest project and what are you working on next?
Sara Naim: I photographed skin cells under the microscope. The series Dawn to Dust looked at space and how shared and interconnected it is. I’m currently working on hair sculptures. I’m forming them into shapes; rectangles, squares, spheres, triangles, etc. and ranging from white blonde to black. There will be 25 sculptures, which I may photograph or keep as pure sculpture.
DD: If you could photograph any person/place/thing in the world, what would you choose?
Sara Naim: The Palestinian segregation wall falling.
DD: What music do you listen to?
Sara Naim: Tracks without lyrics. They tend to speak a lot more than ones that do. I’m listening to Instra:mental – Sakura a lot.
DD: What are you attracted to?
Sara Naim: Light, good cheekbones, velvet, composition, symmetry, aggressive lines or delicate shades, green, and photographs that have that certain silence to them.
