The Ascendents
The Ascendents started as a series on 16th June 2014 Sarah Louis-Jean: a Cuban African salsa drummer I saw when I was out watching a cabaret salsa night performance with other women from my North Sydney salsa class. I was immediately mesmerised by Sarah’s extraordinary presence and ability. She became Ascendents 1.
The series has a Japanese feel or aesthetic- with the advent of Ascendents 2 Kai Kamada-Laws who wore a silk antique kimono I bought at Yoshi Jones in ash pastel pink a kind of burnt softness of material. Hard to define.
I wanted to narrate the fairy stories I was inspired by in photography the way I had been intrigued by Frieda Rego’s etchings- showing the dark side of life with emotion and skill as well as embracing the beauty and difference of forty different women I managed to find who were contemporaries in Sydney at the time.
I took all the photographs in my Redfern loft apartment where I set up my photography studio in the Watertower for 20 years.
The classical fairy stories tell children what they unconsciously know- that human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real and that life can be harsh before it improves. They arereassured about their own fears and their own sense of self. Fairy stories have modelled behavioural paths even as they have provided us with terms for thinking about what happens in our world. I allude to fairy stories in the Ascendents.
The Ascendents will become a book of the 40 different women who are dressed by Akira Isagowa clothing which was sourced and styled by myself. I’m indebted to the extraordinary generosity of the women for their time and commitment and in how the project came together. Forty different women was because I wanted to produce a book and at Sydney TAFE Ultimo at the time the lecturerssaid I had to have 40 models to make a book.
There is a short ‘behind the scenes’ film featuring some of the Ascendents models and the process, it’s really the tip of the iceberg, but a wonderful time it was.
Suellen Symons.