Sarah Small

Sarah Small (born 1979 in Washington D.C.) is a Brooklyn-based American artist, composer, singer, filmmaker, photographer, and performer featured on Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble's GRAMMY-Winning album, Sing Me Home. She is known for her photographic and Tableau Vivant performance series The Delirium Constructions, singing as part of the Balkan vocal trio Black Sea Hotel, acting as the protagonist in the feature film Butter on the Latch by Josephine Decker, and directing the musical album, new music opera performance, and feature film Secondary Dominance.
Education and career
She attended high school at The Field School, in Washington, D.C. and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in photography.
After graduating from college, Small moved to Brooklyn and worked as a photographer for 13 years. Her work has appeared in publications including Vogue, Life Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, has been showcased by John Schaefer on WNYC’s Soundcheck and National Public Radio, and exhibited globally at venues including Galerie Caprice Horn (Berlin), Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington DC), and the Australian Centre for Photography. She was named one of the “Top 13 Emerging Photographers” working today, by American Photo Magazine.
In 2002, Small began studying Bulgarian vocal production in a start-up Bulgarian women's choir, Yasna Voices. In 2006, Yasna Voices traveled on grant to Bulgaria to study with master singer Kremena Stancheva, a founding member of the Bulgarian women’s choir, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares.
In 2007, Small co-formed Brooklyn's Balkan vocal ensemble, Black Sea Hotel. She has premiered original works with Kronos Quartet in collaboration with Black Sea Hotel at St. Ann's Warehouse. and National Sawdust, and on stage with Reggie Watts and Sxip Shirey and Joe’s Pub. The vocal trio was featured in Small's Tableau Vivant of The Delirium Constructions in 2011 and headlined the Lund Choral Festival in Scandinavia in 2018. Black Sea Hotel has taught Balkan folk singing internationally, with a specialization in songs from Shopluk, Bulgaria. Highlights include teaching residences at Sjöviks Folkhögskola in Sweden.
In 2009, she taught Portrait Photography to seniors at the Parsons School of Design, and has taught darkroom photography to children and adults. In 2011, her 120-participant Tableau Vivant performance was featured in The Washington Post and The New York Times.
In 2012, Small formed Hydra, another vocal trio, and performed with Sean Ono Lennon and Taxiplasm at The Box.
In 2014, Small starred in Butter on the Latch, a psychological thriller film directed by Josephine Decker, which was on The New Yorker's “10 Best Movies of 2014.”
In 2016, Small was invited by Beth Morrison and HERE Arts Center’s PROTOTYPE Festival to premiere her work “Secondary Dominance” on stage, which has since been made into several music videos and a feature film.
As a photographer and performance artist, Small has exhibited and lectured internationally for The Lucie Foundation Apple Store Soho, and at the China International Photographic Exhibition granted by the Ministry of Culture of China.
Select photography exhibitions
2017 - Fast Forward//Rewind, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia, US
2011 - Human Time Space, DOB Hua Lamphong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2011 - Neubacher Inaugural Exhibition, Neubacher Shor Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
2010 - 100 Portraits - 100 Photographers, Fotoweek DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., US
2010 - Art of Photography Show, Lyceum Gallery, San Diego, California, US
2010 - Vignettes, Bleicher/GoLightly Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
2010 - Art Taipei Forum, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2009 - Bova Images Festival, Bova, Calabria, Italy
2008 - Delight and Horror: The Photographs of Sarah Small, 1000 Words Photography
2007 - Soft Ground, Platform Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
2004 - Art+Commerce Festival, Emerging Photographers, Tobacco Warehouse, Brooklyn, NY, US
Select performance art
2017 - PROTOTYPE Festival - Secondary Dominance
2011 - Powerhouse Arena - Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions
2011 - Bathhouse Arena - Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions
2011 - Skylight One Hanson, Williamsburg Clocktower Building - Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions
2010 - 92Y Tribeca - Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions
Filmography
Discography
Select music photography
2014 Brooklyn Rider, The Brooklyn Rider Almanac
2009 Kitka, Cradle Songs
2008 Jan Vogler, Tango!
2008 Martin Bisi, Sirens of the Apocalypse
2007 Jan Vogler, Concerti Brillanti
2006 Shara Nova's My Brightest Diamond, Bring Me the Workhorse
Select photography awards
2010 - Selected as 1 of 50 Top Finalists for Artists Wanted: Exposure 2010
2010 - Selected by Magenta Foundation as 2010 US Flash Forward winner
2009 - “10 Best 10” Photo Contest Winner - Resource Magazine and Win-Initiative
2009 - 1 of 2 American finalists selected from 65 countries by ITS#EIGHT International Talent Support, to be flown to Italy for exhibition and award ceremony.
2009 - Selected 1st Place winner for 2009 Fine Art Xto Nude Image Awards to be exhibited in Farmani Gallery in July.
2009 - Winner of Magnet Media's Zoom-In-Online Viewfinder's Challenge, judged by David Turner and Redux Pictures Director, Marcel Saba.
2008 - Chosen as 1 of 13 Top Emerging Talents by American Photo Magazine.
2008 - Avant Guardian Competition Winner - Surface Magazine
2008 - Finalist - Critical Mass Competition
2004 - Emerging Photographer Competition Winner - Art + Commerce
References
External links
Artist's website
Article written by a performer in Tableau Vivant
1979 births
Living people
American artists
Rhode Island School of Design alumni
Rhode Island School of Design alumni in music
American women composers
21st-century American composers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women musicians
21st-century American women singers
American people of Jewish descent
American women in electronic music
Avant-garde singers
Nudity in theatre and dance
21st-century American women photographers
21st-century American photographers