Sunlight as a Frequency: An Artist Interview with Sarah Garrod
We interviewed artist Sarah Garrod to gain insight into her latest installation Dark Path which will be unveiled at Light the Way Festival. We learn about the awe of cyanotypes, working with natural light, portraiture and much more.
Can you tell us more about your artwork Dark Path?
I was inspired by this mysterious promontory on the Ridgeway, when we were on our Nature Walks I said it was like a 'little stage'. There is the sound of cars on one side, the sounds of birds on the lake on the other and the old sewer beneath. It is deep in untouched nature and brambles, the likes of which are pretty rare these days. This is in contrast to the square island of manmade concrete and drain covers. It says a lot to me about Man’s place within Nature, I knew I had to put some friendly faces there.
As soon as you set foot on a “path” you are heading somewhere, you don’t know where it will end or what you will encounter - it’s a metaphor for life.
Your artwork seems to echo resiliency and bravery in darker times. Can you elaborate?
Yes, we’ve all been through testing times recently. There’s the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, a war raging in Ukraine, the fight against climate change. I’ve been to so many funerals. Sometimes these things can seem overwhelming. A walk through nature, and interaction with people, are two things that can keep us going. I get tremendous comfort from nature - we don’t understand all the patterns in leaves and plants but somehow those structures hold everything together.
When times are tough, it helps to know that we are part of something bigger and that the seasons and lifecycles continue.
The blossom is out on the Ridgeway today. I lost my sense of smell for nearly 2yrs after covid, but I could faintly smell that blossom today - what a delight!
At the back of my mind I have the phrase “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”, I think I picked that up as a child, and it’s about not being afraid even on a dark path.
Portrait of local resident © Sarah Garrod
Can you speak more about the people you chose for these portraits?
Taking portraits is a magical thing. People used to believe you were stealing souls with a camera, and a good photographer can certainly see straight into the “light” within their subject. I like taking photos quite indiscriminately of random people, everyone has this light inside. I’m not a photographer who goes around looking at the surface, I want to look below the skin. In the past, I've chosen models without even seeing a photo of them! In this series, there is a woman I saw at a bus stop, and some local people who I helped to make cyanotypes for the community-led installation “Nature Through a New Lens” designed by Hive Curates. We went on nature walks to collect plants along the Ridgeway and the canals, it was amazing to see what we found - from tiny mosses to spiders hiding in seed pods.
I could see their “awe” at our finds, and when the prints suddenly turn blue in the water trays. You get a ‘window’ into the soul at that point, and I was able to capture some of that by photographing them during our tea break. Everyone has a strength within them, one lady standing on the Moorings roof terrace - reminded me of Boudica.
Portrait of local resident © Sarah Garrod
How did you arrive at creating the cyanotypes on discarded crates?
In recent years I am trying to use more recycled and natural materials. I need to practice what I preach - reduce, reuse, recycle. I found these crates around the streets of Woolwich and used some for a previous project. That artwork has been recycled again for “Dark Path”. I think Art has an important place in society, but not at the cost of Nature.
Of course, working with recycled materials is not quick or easy - these fruit crates needed some strengthening with old cardboard - and they left plenty of splinters in my fingers!
The crates came out looking a bit like TV screens, there is something a bit ‘big brother’ about them. I wonder if our future will have faces on screens at every corner? I keep meeting people who say “I’ve seen you in a box for the last few years” thanks to the lockdowns and endless Zooms.
Dark Alley, 2022 © Sarah Garrod
What’s the most experimental 3D surface you’ve printed onto?
As an experimental photographer, I am always looking for new surfaces to print on. Over lockdown, when the darkroom was closed I experimented with all sorts of plants and leaves to make emulsions and print surfaces. The sun fades petals and leaves, and you can use that to make photos. When the darkroom reopened I printed faces onto actual leaves in there - I don’t think anyone has ever done that before, it was very tricky. I am always striving to find new techniques, a bit like a mad scientist! Bringing photography into 3 dimensions is fascinating. I have printed on stone, bone, wood, perspex, dresses and apples, ……. I recently heard of someone printing onto cowpats, it’s a shame he beat me to it!
Leaf Project © Sarah Garrod
In your artist bio you state that your work is about loss, can you elaborate on this? How does harnessing the power of natural light heighten this message?
That’s a great question and I could talk about it all day . The closer you go to London the more you see the loss of green spaces and the natural environment. In the city there are rows of skyscrapers blocking out the light, vital light that we need for plants to grow and for our own vitamin D.
Sunlight is a key ingredient in photosynthesis that makes life possible. We are wiping out flora and fauna, with no real thought of the consequences. Conversely, around Southmere Lake there’s so much well-preserved biodiversity and connections that we don’t fully understand: root networks underground, pollinators dependant on weeds, soils reliant on microbes.
As a photographer I study light and try to master it. In the darkroom I work with “cameraless” photography, sculpting the light by waving my hands about and making shapes onto paper. Shadows and highlights. When it comes down to it, we live in a binary world, light and dark, life and death, pro-Brexit or anti-Brexit, left or right, profit and loss, day and night, heads or tails. Often the split is 50/50 and its a finely tuned balance. Darkness is the absence of light but one cannot exist without the other, hope cannot exist without fear.
I used sunlight to expose these cyanotype portraits. Sunlight is a certain frequency, and we see different frequencies of light than insects do for example. They see differently, they have a different reality. I will stop there before I start talking about alternate realities!
Thank you Sarah for answering our questions. We cannot wait to unveil Dark Path at Light the Way festival.
If you’d like to discover more of Sarah’s works. Please visit: