A common appeal of a domestic still life scene is the inferred human presence, whilst in comparison, a dolls house, devoid of signs of life, can evoke the profound calm of a tiny parallel world forever cut off from the ungainliness of our everyday realities.
The miniature still-life photographs of Sarah Chamberlain draw the viewer into intimate proximity with constructed domestic scenes using miniature dolls house objects. These small objects, originally designed to fill larger dreams and desires of middle class collectors, of ideal homes and ordered existences, are used to form images modelled on the Dutch Still Life tradition alluding to accolades of prosperity and worldliness. However, here, under close scrutiny, the small and the delicate imbue a clumsy and awkward quality due to the manufacturer's limitations of constructing objects on such a small and detailed scale. It is here that dreams are both realised and broken.
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