Sarah Bahbah

Sarah Bahbah is an Australian artist of Palestinian and Jordanian descent.[1][2] She studied creative advertising at university, then started photographing music festivals, including Firefly, after her first year.[3]

Bahbah first came to international attention with her breakout photo series, "Sex and Takeout," a play on food porn and indulging without restraint.[2][4]

Elite Daily and Nylon named her Best Instagrammer in 2016.[5] That same year, Bahbah's collaboration with Butter, a fried chicken restaurant in Sydney, drew criticism for its display of Bahbah's images of nude women throughout the dining area and on the restaurant's website.[6][7] She held her first solo exhibition, Fuck Me, Fuck You, in New York City in 2018.[8] The solo exhibition Splash followed in London.[9]

VICE has described Bahbah's photos as "optimized for the Internet".[10] Bahbah often captions her images using subtitles, with the resulting image resembling a film still.[11] In 2018 Selena Gomez was accused of copying Bahbah's visual style without credit in her music video "Back to You".[12] Bahbah's official response claimed that she was "flattered that so many have referenced me in Selena's latest work".[13] In July 2020, Bahbah directed the music video for Kygo's remix of the song "What's Love Got to Do with It" starring Laura Harrier[14]

Style and influences

Bahbah's images, which employ the use of subtitles, have made her a "go-to" in the industry for this style of work.[15] In interviews early in her artistic career, Bahbah describes the inspiration behind her series "Summer Without A Pool", a style continued throughout her future body of work:

It's been on my mind to use Instagram in a new way for sometime. I kept asking myself, what makes me stop and think, "Yes, this," when I'm cruising the platform. I quickly became obsessed with screenshots of foreign films that have subtitles overlaying. I loved the notion of having a strong image, complemented by a strong copy. I wanted to take it to the next level and create a serial, episodic quasi-narrative. Each individual piece tells a story on its own, but when you bring the body of work together, there is a deeper narrative open to interpretation, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions based on their own experiences.[16]

Symbolism

Bahbah's series "I Could Not Protect Her" is a multimedia work challenging the artist's trauma from childhood sexual abuse.[17] The photo portion of the series presents the conflicting sentiments felt by the subject; subtitles convey a simultaneous desire for approval from the abuser and a strong detest for his actions.[17] In the closing piece of this series, "I Could Not Protect Her--The Poem", a silent-subtitled video of a woman details her journey through abuse and the continuation of unchecked actions by the abuser upon her niece; "I could not protect her, Because I could not protect myself."[17]

In an interview following the launch of this series with Teen Vogue, Bahbah speaks about how being silenced as a child informs her current work:

As a child, I was constantly dismissed. The disregard for my existence raised me into an apathetic adult- completely disassociated from my emotions. It was only until my trauma resurfaced that I understood that my work had become a projection of my childhood. Through my art I had begun to manifest freedom. My sole intent in my work and my being is to practice transparency of my emotions, and to express, express, express, as for so long I didn't have a voice. Through my art I'm creating a safe space for expression for myself, and in doing so, I hope to empower others to do the same.[17]

References
  1. Pegrum, Emma. "Sarah Bahbah uses art to tell her story". The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  2. Perez, Olivia. "Making The Private, Public: A Conversation With Photographer Sarah Bahbah". Forbes. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  3. Bahbah, Sarah (24 June 2014). "Artist-in-residence: Sarah Bahbah". NYLON (Interview). Interviewed by Jackie Yaeger. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. "The badass artist behind this viral 'Sex and Takeout' photo dishes on indulging without restraint". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  5. "Sarah Bahbah". Art Unified Gallery. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  6. Harris, Amy (21 February 2016). "Breasts, thighs and bad taste on menu". The Sunday Telegraph. p. 13.
  7. Rigby, Myffy (1 March 2016). "Get your kicks with seriously hot sauce: hot plates". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 4.
  8. Bowenbank, Starr (20 March 2018). "Sarah Bahbah On The Dylan Sprouse DM That Inspired A Photo Series". NYLON. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  9. Kane, Ashleigh; Manatakis, Lexi (11 June 2018). "Art exhibitions to leave the house for this month". Dazed. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  10. Black, Shelby (31 March 2018). "These Photos Capture the Angst and Apathy of Love in the Instagram Era". VICE. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  11. Shubshizky, Ines (16 February 2018). "Sarah Bahbah is giving you a glimpse of people's most intimate moments". Forward. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  12. Anastasiou, Zoe (17 June 2018). "Selena Gomez Has Been Accused Of Plagiarising An Australian Artist In Her 'Back To You' Video". Elle Australia. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  13. Bailey, Alyssa (12 June 2018). "Artist Sarah Bahbah on Healing, Insta-Fame, and Those Selena Gomez Accusations". Elle. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  14. Shaffer, Claire; Legaspi, Althea (17 July 2020). "Tina Turner, Kygo Release New 'What's Love Got to Do With It' Remix". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  15. Bailey, Alyssa (12 June 2018). "Artist Sarah Bahbah on Healing, Insta-Fame, and Those Selena Gomez Accusations". ELLE. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  16. "Instagram Photo Series "Summer Without A Pool" Explores Teenage Coming-Of-Age". NYLON. 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  17. Ward, Anne Marie. "Her Body of Work." PhD diss., Fordham University, 2019.
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