Sam Taylor-Johnson

Snobbery just inhibits you.

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At school, I always felt the art room was the place where you could sit and talk. It was a place of solace. I wasn't the best artist at school by a long shot; it was more the understanding and the support that came from that room.

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I'm interested in the acting and staging of specific emotions, and so I work with actors. It's a small proportion of what I do, but it's always what people seem to focus on.

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I was living with my stepfather for a while, and then I moved out and went and lived on my own in Hastings-by-the-Sea from about 16.

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I struggle if I have chaos around me, but at the same time, if I don't have it, I'm uncomfortable. It's a strange thing: If I don't have chaos, I create it.

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To be feminist doesn't mean you can't be submissive.

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I only photograph myself at poignant moments in my life as a check of where I am and how large my thighs are.

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I'd like to make something about someone who hasn't existed so that I don't have to tread so carefully and can feel a little bit more creative freedom.

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Sorry, there's nothing like a screaming baby to make a mother twitch.

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I'm annoying to be around because I keep twitching.

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Anonymity would be a fantastic umbrella. I don't like intrusion.

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When I was out in Georgia doing photographs, I found myself trying to undo my own sense of composition. I'd think, 'Why do I want to take it like this? Is it because I want to take a beautiful picture?' It's quite hard to try and undo it.

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Shooting at Coco Chanel's apartment was an unexpectedly absorbing experience. The essence of Chanel is firmly rooted there in all of her possessions, and I truly believe that her spirit and soul still inhabit the second floor.

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When I had cancer, people were surprised at how cheerful and upbeat I was, but I couldn't let myself go to depression - to go there, that defeat would allow everything in. If you look too far into the abyss, you might never come out again. You can stand on the abyss and peep but not give in to sadness.

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My stepfather was quite into opera, but he'd play it when he was in a bad mood, so you'd hear this boom through the floor, Wagner, and you'd feel nervous.

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I believe that life is short, and there is too much time wasted bearing grudges, and I like to move on.

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I went to Goldsmith College of Art in London in the '80s and there I made sculptures, but the objects had nothing to do with how I was thinking. I was making beautifully sanded wooden boxes!

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Quotes by Sam Taylor-Johnson