Article: ISABEL SASSE X FOR REST
ISABEL SASSE X FOR REST
FOR REST — INTERVIEW ISABEL SASSE
What does your usual week look like?
My typical week is quite regimented and disciplined, yet still retains a balance of stillness. Over the years, I’ve figured out the kind of environment my mind and body tends to thrive in and I try to honour that by treating every morning I wake to the time I go to sleep as a ritual. The only difference between between routine and ritual, is intention. So, if I don’t wake up with purpose, stagnation starts to bleed into all other areas of my life. There’s a Japanese saying I read years ago that goes something like [I’m probably paraphrasing terribly here] — ’When you wake in the morning, you should rise without hesitance, otherwise you carry a stone in your heart.’ This is where the discipline comes in to get out of bed around 5am. I’ll usually make myself a few cups of green tea (while standing in the dark in the kitchen in silence) before I get into boxing with my trainer paired with a 5-8km run. This part of my day is my absolute favourite. I take immense joy in being awake while it feels the world is still asleep. The peace is unmatched. I take a cold shower once I’m home, and will start to get into my day. Sometimes this is emails and admin work, sometimes it’s being out on a shoot all day, sometimes it means flying interstate, sometimes it’s all of those things combined into twenty-four hours. This is why the time I have to myself in the morning is so deeply sacred and I will always find time and devotion for my morning rituals. When I allow space for myself first, I can give to those around me from a calm and clear state of mind.
What does REST mean for you?
Rest is self preservation.
How do you REBALANCE after a long day of shooting?
I love silence. When I’m on set, I try to be present with everyone I’m working with and forging connections that are sincere and hold meaning is something I deeply value. I like to have a close relationship and understanding with my clients and also with the team as a whole, so when I’m there, I’m 100% there for each individual person. Naturally, when I come home I like to be in a sanctuary of silence. I’ll usually make myself tea, sit on the floor in the living room and find rest in my own space.
Describe the relationship you have with your hair?
My relationship with my hair has been one filled with ease and contentment. However, a few years ago I cut it all off after having it down to my waist for the entirety of my life, as I felt like my external appearance didn’t reflect how I saw myself internally, the personal development I had endured and how I wanted to be authentically perceived out in the world. I’ve always felt hair is such a personal reflection of who a person is and how they carry themselves in the world. I’ve also always loved the sentiment and history of hair cutting as a cleansing ritual for millennia throughout various cultures; the belief that hair carries and holds energy. It’s no wonder we take drastic measures of reclaiming who we are after going through a break-up, a reshaping of our identity, or after growth and personal development.
As a photographer how do you capture multidimensional beauty?
There are layers to awareness, and to letting the world reveal itself to you. When you slow down, other worlds open themselves up to you. All of the most beautiful things in life require a degree of opening your eyes and finding the quiet in the world; a falling leaf, the moment of black before the blue of morning, silver dew in a spiders web, a piercing moment of sensation, the way trees all move in unison at the slightest breeze. I can find heaven in a closed door.
What inspires you to slow down and how does slowing your pace support your productivity?
I’ve always held a firm belief that being busy, isn’t conducive to being productive. There’s a time and place for all things, but I think the pace of slowing oneself down (particularly in the creative industry) offers more time to think, and therefore a mind that is more open to independent concepts. Returning to deep reverence and understanding of oneself requires a little more nuance, and finesse. The welcoming of new ideas in a world of copy and paste asks us to sit still, in silence. And this is scary to the vast majority of humanity, because it asks us to facilitate self-reflection and curate a space where the hands of our mind isn’t grasping to the fleetingness of busy. In slowing our pace, we receive rest and respite and re-emerge with unclenched minds. No matter the pace you move within, you have to let yourself be soft with life. And you have to let life be kind to you.
