Kissing a Stranger

She is the author of several critically acclaimed monographs including Surf Site Tin Type, Surfland, and Surfboard. This title, kissing a stranger, is a study of Sternbach’s early work made during the 1970s and 1980s. In essence it is a portrait of the artist as a young woman forming her visual language through freedom of experimentation and expression. She says ‘finding my way towards independence and autonomy as a young art student was both intensely lonely and toughening. A camera around my neck afforded me a feeling of protection. It allowed me to project myself onto the world around me; with my needs, my desires and my loneliness exposed – I felt less vulnerable. I looked at the city not from above or below, but straight on. Photographing myself and my family became my coping mechanism. These images are a product of that era.’