Sarah Kaufman

Sarah Kaufman received a BA from Haverford College and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has had solo exhibitions of her photography at Bowdoin College, Haverford College, Saint Joseph’s University, Soho Photo and Porter Contemporary galleries in New York. Kaufman’s photographic and curatorial projects have been reviewed in ARTnews Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Artblog. Permanent collections include Haverford College and the Pennsylvania Convention Center. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Ursinus College and live and works in Philadelphia.

Devil’s Pool

The Devil’s Pool photographs explore a swimming hole in Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Park and emphasize the value of access to green spaces within an urban setting. The project investigates how people relate to their environment and affirms a human need or impulse to commune with the natural world. The work pictures diversity, celebrating the human body interacting with nature, and looks at relationships among people, their bodies, and the environments that they inhabit. It recognizes a long tradition of bathing throughout art history (both indoors and out in nature) and the potential for a pictorial space where the body can be openly
represented and honored. This work considers the reflexivity in viewing imagery of people fully taken by their physical and psychological surroundings.

Devil’s Pool stems from my love for the Wissahickon and the respite that it provides. People from all over are drawn to this urban swimming hole as a place to play and revel in physicality and nature. The images depict moments of coherence among our bodies and the world around us. At Devil’s Pool, I am able to expand my admiring picture of everyday bodies, their owners absorbed in unselfconscious presence.

To view more of Sarah Kaufman’s work please visit their website.