Solace
SARAH MEI HERMAN
Sarah Mei Herman is an award-winning Dutch photographer. As part of the 2023 Head On Photo Festival, Delmar Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of 12 portraits from her Solace series.
“I was commissioned by Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios in New York to produce an extensive photography project about the LGBTQ community in China.
In September 2019, I travelled to Xiamen to portray 14 young queer people (couples and singles). In addition to my photographs of these subjects and their surroundings, I interviewed them about their life, love, and personal fears. Because of the pandemic, I haven’t been able to return to China. This is why I decided to continue the project in Europe two years after my trip to Xiamen.
In China, homosexuality is not illegal anymore, but it is still unaccepted by society and the older generations. Hardly any of the young people I met and photographed for this project are able to speak openly to their parents about their sexual preferences.”
Her work has been exhibited internationally at The National Portrait Gallery in London and JIMEI X ARLES International Photofestival in Xiamen, among others. Several art collectors have acquired Herman’s photography, including the Rabobank Art Collection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and AMC Art Collection.
In 2022, a portrait from Herman’s series Solace was selected to be exhibited at the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. The series was also recently shortlisted for the V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography.
A featured exhibition of the 2023 Head On Photo Festival.
Exhibition dates: 11 November to 3 December 2023
Gallery hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 12 – 5pm
SARAH MEI HERMAN, Bo & Silke, Utrecht, November 2021
