Sarah Mei Herman holds a BA in Photography from The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, and an MA in Fine Art Photography from The Royal College of Art, London. Her personal projects explore relationships, intimacy, longing, and the human urge for physical proximity, exploring the vulnerability of transitory life stages. Herman’s work has been exhibited at institutions such as The National Portrait Gallery, London; The Benaki Museum, Athens; Photo Elysée, Lausanne; Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse; and the JIMEI x ARLES International Photo Festival, Xiamen. Supported by several grants – from the Mondriaan Fund, the Cultuurfonds and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, among others – Herman’s work is found in a range of public and private art collections. Her images have been published by the likes of iD, The Guardian, Vogue Italia, Foam Magazine, CNN, Paper Journal and Dear Dave.
In 2018, Herman was a finalist of the Hyères Festival of Fashion and Photography, where she received the American Vintage Photography Prize. That same year, she was the winner of the Rabobank Dutch National Portrait Prize. In 2022, Herman was commissioned to produce a photobook on young LGBTQ+ communities in China. A portrait from this series was shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, whilst the wider Solace project was shortlisted for the 2022 Gomma Photography Grant. In 2023, she was a finalist in the V&A Parasol Women in Photography Prize, nominated for the Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture, and received the Grand Prix at Croatia’s Rovinj Photodays. In 2025, Herman’s second photobook – Julian & Jonathan – was published by the London-based GOST Books, with a launch event at Amsterdam’s Foam Photography Museum. The Julian & Jonathan series has since been exhibited at Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgium, with another solo show planned for the 2025 GLAZ Festival in Rennes, France.
