Statement
This series, #TheAscentOfUs, was an unexpected gift from Covid lockdown during the southern hemisphere winter of 2020.
The shadows of the people who passed beneath my balcony each day don't reveal their skin colour or race, their politics, their faith or their sexual identity.
But the shadows do tell us something about our shared humanity.
The title of the series refers to "The Ascent of Man" by British mathematician Jacob Bronowski and the "Us" comes from the "They are us" speech made by the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, after the Christchurch massacre.
Sarah Barker makes portrait, social documentary and street photographs and her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
Sarah’s photographs have been recognised as finalists in awards, selected for group exhibitions and acquired by the State Library of New South Wales. She has also worked as a photographer’s assistant and a volunteer for a number of not-for-profit organisations.
Sarah Barker lives and works on the unceded land of the Gadigal in Sydney, Australia, where she began her career in a commercial photography studio last century.