Natalie Vermeulen
Student Writer
Name: Sarah Henry
Year: Senior
Major: English & Communications
If you’re looking for Sarah, you might find her pouring herself into her poetry, taking photos of other people creating their own art or hanging out in her apartment with her rabbit, Pancake. This is Sarah:
What’s something in life that brings you joy?
Ooh, besides Pancake? Probably photography and writing. Photography is such a beautiful medium of art because I think it is most equipped to speak to the human condition and the human experience because it’s such an authentic medium. In photography, you’re capturing a moment, and it’s your decision when to capture that moment. And there is limitless opportunity with photography—people make the argument, “we’re running out of art, we’re running out of the concept of what art can look like.” But with photography—life keeps changing, and there’s no end to the different moments you can capture.
Do you think your photography has a style, or do you have specific things you try to capture?
I love capturing people. I love making people feel beautiful and making people realize that they themselves are works of art. I also love photographing artists as well. I love watching people do things they’re passionate about, and just capturing their art in another artistic medium. So I love photographing dancers and actors and painters and even writers, trying to capture that they are a part of the piece they’re creating.
Do you have a quote or piece of advice you live by?
“If not me, who? If not now, when?” I think it’s by Mikhail Gorbachev, and it’s also been used by Emma Watson in some of her UN speeches. It was my senior quote in high school, and I didn’t really fully grasp it until I got into college. All these horrible things are happening around us and in all these tumultuous cultural experiences and expressions, we wait around for someone else to change it, when, if you see the problem, you need to be the solution. Otherwise, you’re just working for the hands of the oppressor.
Do you still have a child-like dream that you would pursue if you could?
I would love to be a Broadway photographer or part of the marketing department for Broadway. I’m also interested in working as a media coordinator for the ASPCA. I would love to do that. Also, I’ve never been outside the country but I really want to. If I could, I would be a travel photographer, or if I could work with a nonprofit that does aid abroad, being on their marketing team so I could go and experience what they’re doing and try to tell that story that I think is so crucial.
If you could describe yourself as a color, what would you be and why?
Blue. Because I’m always going through my Blue Period (like Picasso and his Blue Period). I suffer from a lot of mental illnesses, and I like the concept of the Blue Period because it’s taking psychological trauma and darkness that’s happening inside you and turning it into something beautiful, turning it into art. So definitely blue. Also, it’s just a really pretty color. Reminds me of the sky, which is also really hopeful.