Reviews
Chance and co-incidence play such a huge role in Sarah's and Stephen’s shared history that if you wrote it up as a short story it would test the readers' credulity.
For them to subsequently discover a mutual love and talent for photography with multiple confluences of ideas and themes is extraordinary.
Both Sarah and Stephen have an original eye for a shot. This body of work is not a compromise - it's more than the sum of its parts.
Clancy Gebler Davies
Artist, photographer and writer
London, England
Ethereal photographs by Sarah and Stephen - made before each knew of the other's existence - unfurl a striking similarity in subject and aesthetic that repeats over the years to make a whole new story.
Deeply moving, it goes beyond mere coincidence and touches on Carl Jung’s belief in synchronicity – the way that the unconsciousness joins people across time and space.
Natalie Christensen
Award-winning photographer
New Mexico, USA
In Synchronicity, Sarah’s and Stephen’s merged photographs create an experience between sleep and waking where transformation of both viewing and viewer occurs.
In lush visual poetry, the images whisper a conversation that Sarah and Stephen were having, unbeknownst to each other, across time and miles.
No wonder this project conjures the words of Jalal al-Din Rumi, the Sufi mystic and poet: What you seek, is seeking you.
Donna Doyle
Photographer, poet and educator
Tennessee, USA
This is one of the most stunning and moving websites I have seen. Art does not typically move me to this level, this one is on another plane. Through genetic genealogy circles, I spend a chunk of my online life being exposed daily to stories of people who grew up with missing biological family members. I have read countless books on this issue. However, I have never seen a visual art expression of it as outstandingly beautiful as this one.
Alison Bryan
Lanidloes, Wales
A sublime concept and mesmerising images. Very 'meta' in the way it asks questions about how we perceive what is real and isn’t real in our daily lives. The stories, the connections and contrasts all bolster and explore that central theme.
Tim Story
Grammy-nominated musician
Iowa, USA
A really beautiful project. I really like the openness to visual language and text, and how you use contrasting images to express deeper truths.
Raymond Antrobus
Award-winning poet
Hackney, England
This project is deep on so many levels. It makes me think of the Sufi poet Shams Tabrizi who wrote: “We are each an unfinished work of art, waiting and striving to be completed.” It feels to me when Sarah’s and Stephen’s photography was joined up that something deeply beautiful which was unfinished is now completed.
Afsar Barlas, Istanbul, Turkey
It is quite extraordinary to feel I have gone on such a deeply emotional journey in a matter of just a few beautiful photographs. This project does something all art wishes it could do but often doesn't - take the viewer / participant deep into the yearning human heart.
Jane Fookes,
Journalist/playwright
Hertfordshire, England
From aeroplane shadows to spider’s webs, from tree shadows to road markings, Sarah & Stephen’s haunting images remind us of the power of photography to hint at things unseen. Synchronicity is not only a remarkable human story about a long-lost sister and brother, it visualises the dualities at the heart of all our lives.
Ramalingam Muthukrishnan
Chennai, India
Comments
"It took five decades before Sarah and Stephen found each other, yet it seems as if through their photography they had known each other all their lives."
Jennifer Jines, California, USA
What a feast for the eyes. I felt emotional looking at the images. ‘Postcard from Me to You to Me’ was particularly touching and heartfelt. The connections between these images is beyond anything I’ve seen before. Thank you for this gift.
Atifa Balding, Surrey, England
For me the best photography has something urgent to share that can’t easily be expressed in words. It’s impossible for me to articulate the beauty of images like ‘Dance of Time’ and ‘Zen Ripples’.
Maja Berg, Oslo, Norway
Wow! I was emotional viewing this. The way in which Sarah's and Stephen's lives align is magical. My favourite images are ‘Whispers’ and ‘Two Moons’.
Samia Meah, London, England
So beautiful. I can’t think of a better image than Sarah & Stephen’s ‘Low Tide’ to visualise the invisible threads that join up people’s lives in ways we cannot comprehend or articulate.
Lena Huber, Geneva, Switzerland
This is not just a photography project, it’s an intriguing and moving story of two siblings who grew up apart but led parallel lives. Sarah’s and Stephen’s photos should be in a major art gallery but thankfully they are available online for us all to enjoy. There are so many coincidences captured in the photos (e.g. having daughters with the same name) that this makes you think again about what makes us who we are and how we live our lives.
Malcolm Matthews, Surrey, England
Wow! I’m blown away by this. It resonates with me because ten years ago I gained an older brother I didn’t know existed and the synchronicities in our lives still us goosebumps, just like this wonderful project does too.
Lauren Fenwick, Cape Town, South Africa
A fantastic story, works on so many different levels.
Amanda Symonds, Hong Kong
These photographs show how beautiful life is and Just shows how amazing life is and how if things are meant to be, they will be.
Gabriella Rizzo, Sheffield, England
What a magnificently woven masterpiece. Absolutely beautiful and touching.
Abi Poulton, Sydney Australia
Really enjoyed looking at these pictures which convey so much more than what you see.
Chris Ratcliffe, Kincraig, Scotland
I’ve never seen a photography exhibition quite like this.
So poignant, I was moved to tears, especially with ‘For All the Birthdays We Missed’.
Sunita Patel, Kolkatta, India
Probably one of the most powerful long-lost family stories I’ve come across.
Ruth Montgomery, Chelmsford, England
Sister Moon and Brother Sun,
a tale of a parallel universe.
Twin visions converge through the lens,
and infinite new possibilities arise.
Let there always be light,
in the unity of opposites.
Paul Yan, Taiwan
There’s more to genetics than we commonly acknowledge. It seems certain traits and persuasions can be passed on with sometimes astonishingly unexpected results. Synchronicity offers us intimate glimpses of this.
Jim Tetlow, Leicester, England
I just love the rich visual metaphors in these images. The shimmering children’s party bubbles mingling in ‘For All the Birthdays We Missed’ is not only beautiful, it is cleverly symbolic too.
Monique Lefebre, Marseille, France
Beautiful work, the fusions seems effortless.
Mimi Berman, Sydney, Australia
Love this so much. I can’t pick out a favourite but ‘I’m So Glad I Found You’ is incredibly poignant.
Tessa Longbottom, London, England
There’s a unique sprit and sensitivity behind these stories.
Sofia Garavito, Lima, Peru
A beautiful discovery, a perfectly-titled project.
Tracey Tyer, Orkney, Scotland
The photos and resonance between Sarah and Stephen’s lives across the years are awe inspiring.
Krista Maier, Adelaide, Australia
A mesmerising story of sibling discovery and similarities.
Laurie Banks, Enfield, England
An extraordinary story, definitely worth a visit.
Niall McCormack, Westport, Ireland
An amazing project!
Mercan Dede, Ottawa, Canada