SARAH BELIKAN | PHOTOGRAPHY
AN “ART x WELLBEING” INTERVIEW
by Isabella Kumpf
Follow Sarah Belikan on: Instagram
Sarah Belikan was born in a small village in south-west Germany in the early 1990s. She came out as gay during her teenage years.
At that time, she began to express herself through her passion for art, playing in rock bands, writing stories and acting in the theater. Her curiosity for creative (self-)discovery didn’t stop, so she began to follow her grandmother's path, when she inherited her analogue cameras. Finally pursuing her dream of living amongst other nonconformists at the age of 19, she moved to Berlin, where she still lives and works.
As a female photographer, feminist and queer woman, Sarah Belikan is determined to celebrate femininity and queerness. She wants to teach witnessing eyes to perceive women’s bodies from a non-patriarchal view and eliminate the male gaze, which is often applied in depictions of women in arts and media.
Background
I: Thank you so much for taking the time and joining today! Tell us a little bit about when you became interested in the art of photography, and how you got involved.
Sarah Belikan: Thank you for having me! Well, I grew up in a small village in the south-west of Germany and came out as homosexual when I was still in my teens. And during that time I also processed a lot by expressing myself in the form of artistic expression, so my passion for art became very intense. I was playing in rock bands, writing stories, and acting in theater.
All this was becoming increasingly consolidated and at some point I inherited the analogue cameras from my grandmother, who was also a passionate photographer. Actually, [ I inherited the love for photography on ] both on my mother and father's side, but I inherited the analogue cameras from one of them without knowing anything about it, and I just began taking pictures.
I: So you've had a lot of different experiences of expressing yourself through art, when did you realize that photography was what you wanted to pursue as a career?
Sarah Belikan: That actually took quite a while. I started studying different things, so I chose the academic path and started working in the scientific field, but that didn't bear fruit for years. At the same time I continued to do photography in my private life.
And then, during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, I had to quit my job because there wasn't enough work and I went to my parents. I lived there for 3 months.
I got my head down and I realized that I had to work artistically - that I couldn't study classically and I couldn't work scientifically, but I had to create something. And then I made the decision and applied for a photography university programme and was accepted in Berlin.
Sarah Belikan photography | Instagram: @_sarahbelikan/
I: So in order to make the transition from passion to profession, you needed an external factor that forced you to change things, along with being accepted into a professional programme.
Sarah Belikan: Yes, exactly.
I: Can you describe a typical week for you when it comes to photography?
Sarah Belikan: At the moment, it's not constant. It depends on whether I have projects or a shooting that I'm working on, then of course it's more intensive work and I'm focused on that, and most of the time is actually spent on post-processing. There's also a lot of applying for competitions and also applying for jobs, and on days off I do a lot of preparation, research, and how to get the shot. At the moment I'm also planning/preparing to open my own photography studio.
And apart from that - I still have a day job as a production assistant in the theater.
I: Generally speaking, if you say project-related: Do you apply for things for financial reasons or out of interest?
Sarah Belikan: Definitely, yes. There are two parts; one is what makes money and the other is definitely my art, my artistic work, and I make time for that, yes. But that also includes applying for competitions - that also counts as artistic work.
I: What kind of cameras do you work with?
Sarah Belikan: In my professional work, I love using a full-frame camera because it's just so convenient in terms of time and expense. In my personal life, though, I prefer analogue photography. I also have several analogue cameras, but the costs are very high. Film rolls and developing [ them ] have become very expensive recently. When it comes to jobs, it's actually exclusively digital.
Integration of Artistic Work and Personal Life
I: I'd love to know more about how your personal life affects your creative work, where your inspiration comes from and how you choose the themes that ultimately influence your photography.
Sarah Belikan: I specialize in queer feminist photography. I identify as queer and feminist myself and that basically shapes 90% of my life. I'm greatly influenced by all women, not just women, but FLINTA* in my immediate and wider circle, including editors, writers, etc.
*The acronym FLINTA is German and that stands for "Frauen, Lesben, Intergeschlechtliche, nichtbinäre, trans und agender Personen", meaning female, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans and agender people.
That's also how my first big photo series began. When I photographed my friends, I wanted to portray their pure, pristine sexuality and their bodies - definitely far away from the male gaze* and towards a natural femininity.
* The term describes the filmic representation of women through the eyes of a man: the camera's angle of view simulates the male gaze. Women are presented as objects of lust and reduced to their bodies.
I: To what extent does your artistic work affect your everyday life? Has photography changed the way you look at different things that you perceive every day?
Sarah Belikan: 100 percent, so a definite yes. Now, I don't just drive around, but I see everything in much more detail and I perceive things more intensely in what's going on around me. [ I am ] more aware of it. Everything I see can be a motif and can be depicted. I see beauty in simple things. In everyday life, yes. Or for example, a shard that I got from a friend and I made self-portraits with it. It can be little things in life that suddenly appear and give me inspiration.
I: Does your art also help you to have a better understanding of yourself and your own identity? Would you say that photography has that kind of meaning for you? Does your art also help you to understand yourself better? Or your identity?
Sarah Belikan: Yes, it has shaped my queer identity even more. Because I grew up in such a small village where there were no queer role models, I also had difficulties identifying with it until I came to Berlin and then went out in the queer scene but also worked as a photographer. That definitely shaped me. It's a constant in my life and one of the most important things for me.
Sarah Belikan photography | Instagram: @_sarahbelikan/
Wellbeing, Mental Health and Artistic Work
I: I'd love to know more about how your art affects your wellbeing. Do you notice any specific factors that photography has a positive effect on your general well-being or even mental health?
Sarah Belikan: Yes, definitely. I've struggled with depression and anxiety in the past. I know it sounds a bit mundane, but even a 20 minute walk can be a great experience for me. I like to take my camera and photograph nature. Being able to see the results of my efforts at home afterwards is a great way to de-stress and gives me confidence to see what beautiful things I can create. Specifically, it's given me a lot in the past, just because I was able to get out there and start creating right away, instead of just walking around.
Being able to see the results of my efforts at home afterwards is a great way to de-stress and gives me confidence to see what beautiful things I can create.
But I'm not creative all the time and sometimes it's a job and sometimes I have to kick myself for days to pick up a camera. It's not with me all the time and sometimes I have to force myself. But you can have such small experiences of success so quickly - it's always a nice reminder that you can pick up and hold on to.
And also as a way of expressing myself, yes, it helps me, not only as a professional photographer, but also like anybody else. Photography is also a means of communication now - send a photo instead of writing a text or starting with "Look what I'm doing" and you've already told your story.
I: How do you feel when you've mastered a situation like that through your art and you've been able to come out of a dark time, for example?
Sarah Belikan: It gives me an absolute energy kick. So for me, expressing myself, creating myself artistically, that's kind of my purpose in life,
And it has definitely solidified. I noticed it before and practiced it too, sometimes I pushed myself out and took the camera with me and just saw what came out. A lot of times unexpectedly beautiful things come out of it. But in general you have to differentiate, sometimes you have a job that you don't want to do and then you have to fight your way through it, not everything is gold.
I: Like any art form, photography can also be quite stressful. There are many factors that can play a role: time, concentration, stress levels, artistic potential and actual feasibility, financial pressure ... How do you deal with these things?
I don't always want to do everything at once! I like to take it bit by bit.
Sarah Belikan: I always try to take it one step at a time. I don't always want to do everything at once! I like to take it bit by bit. What can I do first? What can wait?
Beginners' recommendations
I: What tips would you give to someone who is struggling to take the first step?
Sarah Belikan: If you find it difficult to go out, just look around your room and find the object that appeals to you the most at the moment and try to capture it by playing with techniques and light.
And otherwise, just go out and explore, because there are interesting things to discover everywhere, in every little corner of the world.
I: Any advice on overcoming shame at the beginning of expressing oneself through art? To reckon with one's work as a form of art.
Sarah Belikan: Sometimes there is a barrier to showing it to other people, but I would definitely actively seek feedback and input from others and have it reflected back to me. I also got support from friends and family who saw potential and pushed me in that direction. If you can, just get into a conversation with people and just ask them: "Would you like to see what I've done?"
But if you don't feel up to it, you can also create an anonymous account on Instagram, for example, and upload your work there, create anonymous pages and see what the response is - if you want to make yourself dependent on the response.
Sarah Belikan photography | Instagram: @_sarahbelikan/
I was also affected by feelings of shame for a long time. I had to reach a certain age to be braver. I grew out of it. Sometimes it just takes people a little longer. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not sad about it, because I found my way in the end, but it just took a certain amount of time for me to dare and become more confident.
I: What challenges would you have liked to have known about in advance?
Sarah Belikan: It's the same in photography as everywhere else - it's totally male-dominated and men have to work half as hard as women to get recognition or jobs, that's just the way it is.
I was also affected by feelings of shame for a long time. I had to reach a certain age to be braver. I grew out of it. Sometimes it just takes people a little longer. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not sad about it, because I found my way in the end …
And if you want to do it professionally, you have to spend a lot of money, maybe not everyone understands what all can come together if you want to do it professionally, but if you just want to do it for your own self-expression, you're ok.
I: What do you love most about photography?
Sarah Belikan: I love that it's easy and accessible to everyone nowadays, of course you can spend endless money, the equipment is incredibly expensive, but now everyone has a camera on their phone and can create art relatively easily. I also love that it's a communication tool.
I: Do you think that it is necessary to have experience in the creative field to be a photographer?
Sarah Belikan: I would recommend photography to anyone. Definitely. You develop relatively quickly if you know where and how you want to start.
I: Thank you so much Sarah. I really appreciate your taking the time to share your expertise and honest experience with us and our readers.
Sarah Belikan: Thank you for having me!
Interview conducted by Isabella Kumpf.