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About the Photographer

Fassbender, Sebrina

American, b. 1977

Sebrina Fassbender’s photographs of call girls living and working on the Lower East Side of Manhattan fall between the genres of documentary, portrait, and staged photography. She spent five years (2004-2009) meeting the women, and she photographed them only after establishing friendships and a level of intimacy and trust. Though many of the photographs are candid, Fassbender also frequently staged the scenarios, providing clothing or props representative of some aspect of her subject’s personality while preserving the spontaneous appearance of the images. She considers the images to be both portraiture and self-portraiture, as she believes it is important that her subjects feel equally in control as the photographer during the shoot. Sebrina Fassbender’s work has been included in a two-person show with LaToya Ruby Frazier at Higher Pictures, New York City (2009); a slide show of her work at Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY College at Old Westbury, NY (2009); a group show at the Viewfinder Photography Gallery, London, UK (2011); and a group show at Alibi Fine Art, Chicago (2011).