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Hidden in Plain Sight was commissioned by the Centre d’art et photographie de Lectoure. The film is based on fragments of Robert Bresson’s acclaimed film Pickpocket (1959). The work re-enacts short scenes from Bresson’s film in which the protagonists rehearse and perform the techniques that pickpockets use to avoid being caught. Accompanied by a voiced script written from the intimate perspective of one of the characters, the work was shot in the studio with a small group of non-professional actors. The film reflects on the position of the actor and the thief both of who rely on the arts of mimicry and deception. My interest in the figure of the pickpocket as represented by Bresson’s film was partly informed by about thinking about the banking industry and its routine use sleight of hand and misdirection to acquire what rightly belongs to us. Hidden in Plain Sight was originally conceived to be screened alongside a voice over performed live by an actor standing by the screen. It can also be shown as a projection work only where the voice over is made integral to the soundtrack of the film.

Sarah Dobai is an artist based in photography and film. Over recent years her production has also extended into publication and performance. The work engages with realism, artifice and illusion in relation to pictorial or cinematic conventions. Recent exhibitions and projects include the artist’s book The Overcoat, (Four Corners Books, Raven Row), The Vanishing Point in History, Centre d’art et photographie de Lectoure with Matthew Buckingham, Lina Selander and Eric Baudelaire. Her performance Study was commissioned by Whitechapel Art Gallery, London and Spike Island, Bristol. The film Twenty Second Hold will be shown next year at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The fixed frame 16mm work Nettlecombe showed both as an installation and projected work at multiples venues internationally including Tate Modern, FACT Liverpool, Site Gallery (Sheffield), Dundee Contemporary Arts, Kamloops Art Gallery, Canada, Kuandu Museum of Fine Art, Taipei. Other exhibitions include Theatres of the Real, Antwerp FotoMuseum, Darkside II, FotoMuseum Winterthur, Sarah Dobai: Photographs & Film works, Kettles Yard, and Above the City, Artist’s Space (solos), New York. Dobai completed a Masters in Fine Art at the University of British Columbia studying under Jeff wall and Mark Lewis. She lives and works in London.