Before or Through explores how much can be learned about culture and oneself while waiting for and travelling on subway trains—how repetition in life and a city can turn things from imposing to comfortable. There is also the question of what we cannot learn when the conditions in public are absent for observation and trust.
Working with both observed and fictionally edited material, Ana Šašić investigates the process of forming a relation to the city, initiated by memories of early adulthood—where, after buoyant firsts, the subway was a companion. Waiting and travelling beside someone is different than passing them on the street, surrounded by trainloads of fellow residents and values spoken by station architecture and advertising.
Before or Through explores the act of allowing a public space to witness your habits and show you the habits of others. For those who have lived through multiple possible futures, through migration or not, Šašić wonders about all the firsts, gatherings and routines that have not happened—and how the granular of “who-are-we” cannot be revealed without the capacity for patience and surprise that uniquely occurs around urban trains.
Ana Šašić is interested in work that explores meaning rooted in the public realm and the details that connect lives to stories. Predominantly working with photography through a concept-driven practice, Šašić's recent work has explored the tension between intimate and public places one has access to and those they have needed to leave.
