Sara Guix (rhymes with quiche) is a filmmaker and photographer whose work explores themes of identity, immigration and becoming.
With her photographic lens focusing on women in the water capturing the golden moments of ‘surf stoke’, Sara has been a regular fixture in the surf here in Raglan for a long time.
I chatted to her on zoom; she was at her family home in Barcelona – a trip she tries to make yearly to renew her creative focus.
While missing the vibrancy of life on the street in Barcelona, Guix credits settling in Aotearoa with the current evolution of her artistic practice.
“I think it was super helpful coming here because it’s less competitive, more open to giving feedback and being interested in what I make. Raglan is a bubble of genuinely helpful and supportive people.”
Film was always going to be it for Guix.
Taught by her father to take and develop black and white stills, the two would watch old Westerns together, dubbed in Spanish; Billy the Kid, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Westside Story.
“Bladerunner was my favourite. I still love to watch these on the projector,” she says.
“I’m also so inspired by Sébastien Zanella (French filmographer and photographer), Sorrentino (Italian film director), French new wave cinema, Sophia Coppola, and I love to visit the French film festival at the Lido each year.”
Sara got her start by working on big productions in Europe. “As soon as I got enough money, I got my own gear and started to do my own projects.”
Things really kicked off when she came to NZ and wanted to start documenting what was happening around her through film and photography.
Keeping her finger on the pulse is an important part of her practice; gobbling up festival movies, documentaries, biopics.
“I watch a lot of films about people really going after what they want and analyse how things I watch make me feel. I’ve been doing the morning pages from ‘The Artist’s Way’ [a practice of compulsory daily writing – three full A4 pages of stream of consciousness written first thing upon waking each morning] for years and it helps ideas begin to coalesce. Failing to do this is an act of self-sabotage for me, so I try to be rigorous about it.”
On the other side of the coin, keeping active is essential to Guix’s creative practice. “Surfing is my main exercise and comes naturally for me – it really helps with mental health. I tend toward anxiety and imposter syndrome and it’s really helpful to be in the water.”
Guix has recently begun working for an agency, and says, “I feel so privileged to be able to take on local low budget projects because of my agency work paying the bills.”
Projects ongoing include the ‘Why did you leave series?’, which focuses on immigrants, Jonny at The Refinery, a pregnancy yoga retreat and a film entered in the Raglan Film Festival coming up next March.
@sguixs
sara-guix.com
by Sarah Bing, local ceramic artist
