Braas was born in 1968 in the town of Siegen, Germany. Her excitement for traveling led her to places like Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Her inspiration for her work came about during these trips. At age 23 she attended Fachhochschule Dortmund where she studied visual communication and photo and film design. A few years later she moved to New York to further her education in photography at the School of Visual Arts. She still lives in the big city and has become very successful for her work. Sonja has had countless solo shows spanning over the past 10 years and has been published in many magazines including her most recent, Aperture. Braas constructs 3-D spaces using different materials and painted backgrounds which lead into a unknown, mysterious distance. "These generalized representations of distant "real" places are in themselves "non" places; though pass on an experience of progresing through rain forest, mountainscape, savannah, desert, wetland. etc." The presentation of her series is so important to her final product. She places these images in museums because she feels they represent a "real environment" for her fake constructions.
Representing Gallery : http://www.akinci.nl/index.htm
Website : http://www.sonjabraas.com/
Article : http://www.actuphoto.com/page.php?page=pronews/news_complete&id=3300
This work seems perfect for the direction you’re headed. I don't think that your images need to or should depict a fictitious place, but suggest one. Remember what we talked about during your crit (me and Mathew Farris). Your images have the possibilities of referring to strange places without being direct or purposeful.
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