Sofia’s photography practice falls into two genres, portraiture and documentary, exploring into people exactly as they are and documenting it through photography. Capturing people at their most vulnerable, capturing the truth.
For the ‘getting Modern’ exhibition Sofia wanted to create portraits that said more than just documenting the likeness of someone. With the historical portrait style Coombs offers us a modern version of the classic portrait. Walter Benjamin described the difference between a painter and a photographer as the painter maintains a natural distance from reality, whereas the camera man penetrates deep into its web. A painted portrait will only give you a representation of what the painter saw, whereas a photograph offers a more realistic representation of the subject, no disguise at all. Coombs’ portraits were captured on a large format camera to ensure each detail of the subjects face was visible. The portraits create an almost uncomfortable connection between the subject and viewer, an invasion of personal space one in which most people are unfamiliar with viewing. The images almost mimic those of mug shots or passport photographs, the subjects are expressionless giving the viewer and chance to see what that person looks like 100% natural.
Coombs’ work is similar to that of Thomas Ruff who also took portraits in a similar style, asking his own friends and family to pose for him too. Both Coombs’ and Ruff’s work are quite unsettling in a way, you as the viewer are staring at the subject and they too are staring back, you would never be this up close and personal with a stranger in the street and this is what makes the photographs so interesting and intriguing. The images bring out a lot of questions, who is this person? Where are they from? What do they do? It is in our nature to be curious and to want to know what is happening but with Coombs’ photographs you are given no answers and are left to make up the rest of your own.
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