Adriana Rodriguez / Life! Editor
When thinking of ways to unify her world, Sara Conklin’s mind kept returning to the theme of happiness.
Conklin, a 21-year-old FIU student, had been assigned the world unity task as a project in her high school English literature course.
Her idea was to use a photo she took while vacationing with her family in New York City to create a template for the visual expression of happiness.
The pose was basic “and a bit goofy,” she said, but since then, the activity in the picture has become known as “The Sara Pose.”
It has become very popular on the web as people all over replicate her pose, which is, in fact, quite simple: the subject of the photo stands in front of any landmark, back turned to the camera and arms stretched out in the air as if rejoicing.
“Anybody, anywhere in the world who speaks any language can look at that picture and just see that the person is sublimely happy,” Conklin said. “That person is so happy in that moment in time that they just want to freeze it. You don’t even have to see their face or their smile to know it.”
After the high school class assignment, the pose followed her through all her major high school events, including prom and graduation. The pose coined the name “The Sara Pose” after Conklin’s friend picked up on her mission of uniting the world and wanted to share in the experience.
It all started with a Facebook album. Conklin created an album on the social media site chronicling her travels throughout her life where she got the chance to document the pose. The pose wasn’t just about a beautiful background to Conklin, it was about the significance of time and place.
Friends would take a photo of them doing the pose and then tag Conklin’s name. Conklin would then take the photo and add it to her own album.
“The pose is so much more than a pretty background,” she said. “Wherever you take that picture, it doesn’t have to be in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It doesn’t have to be in front of the Eiffel Tower. It could be anywhere as long as it’s meaningful to the person in the picture.”
After high school, Conklin attended Boston University, where she studied directing in the university’s fine arts program. As an elective, she enrolled in a course in African Studies, focusing on a country she always wanted to learn more about.
“Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to go to Africa. I don’t know why,” she said. “I grew up in a community that didn’t teach me anything about Africa. It was just that one place I’ve always wanted to go to.”
Conklin got her first chance to visit Africa on an internship when she was just a sophomore in college and the experience changed her, she said.
The internship was with an organization called Support for International Change that takes volunteers to Tanzania to live in rural villages to educate people on HIV/AIDS prevention and to run mobile testing centers. The trip also gave her the opportunity to give back.
“We knew Sara was set out to help and care for others from an early age,” said Cheryl Conklin, Conklin’s mother. She also wasn’t surprised when Conklin decided to travel with the humanitarian group.
Conklin says she learned more from the villagers than she could have imagined teaching them. She even learned Swahili.
“We were living like real Tanzanians. It was what it was. I had to walk 10 minutes in the morning to get my water and then boil it. I loved it,” Conklin said.
While Conklin was helping out in a rural village, her mother was concerned about the differences in the availability of modern technology.
“Fortunately, modern technology of the cell phone kept me in touch with her,” Cheryl Conklin said. “That may have been what got me through those months of her being so far away – I don’t know if I could have handled it if I had no knowledge of where she was or if she was OK. I feel Sara’s work in Tanzania basically ‘cemented’ the direction in life she has chosen.”
After rethinking her future in the arts, Conklin decided to transfer to FIU to study international relations. At FIU she was given the opportunity to learn more about other cultures and The SaraPose really took off, she said.
Darren Shillingford, a fellow FIU student working with her in the executive branch of FIU’s student government, encouraged Conklin to take the photos from a small Facebook album to a website archiving people’s photos and experiences.
He took his own SaraPose photo during a visit home in the Dominican Republic with his best friend of 15 years. He noticed people’s interest in the idea after many people standing nearby started inquiring about the pose.
Those who submitted photos to www.sarapose.com are asked to write a description of the setting and importance of the moment. Conklin found that some of her favorites were not about the place, but the meaning behind it.
Anamaria Arias had her SaraPose photographed in front of a cathedral in Toledo, Spain while on vacation with her grandmother and dedicated it to her. She said the religious landmark was “a testament to the importance of the spirituality to mankind, and the greatness that can be achieved through tolerance.”
SaraPose participants have taken photos of the pose during monumental events such as their graduation, prom or family vacations. Some have just taken the photo in a local attraction to remember the time spent there and who they were with.
Hollis Bubla, a junior at FIU, took her SaraPose photo on a spontaneous trip to Sequoia National Park in California.
“The whole trip was one big spur of the moment after the next and I got to see some of the biggest trees in the world,” Bubla said. “My pose conveys a beautifully overwhelming sense of being consumed by something so much bigger than myself. I couldn’t believe where I was.”
Those moments move Conklin.
“Sometimes I’ll cry reading [the personal stories] because it’s so beautiful to know that people really take a part of this project on their own initiative and they really just like the idea,” Conklin said.
The motto for the project is “uniting the world.” Shillingford said if anyone can do it, Conklin can.
“Sara has enough passion for the world to unite the hearts of everyone. She sees beauty in even the smallest moments, and that is what she is trying to emphasize in the poses,” he said.
“I work with the International Student and Scholars Services at FIU. I have already begun spreading the word to FIU’s international community. I know that in the upcoming months, Sara is going to have a lot more poses from around the world. I hope the word keeps spreading.”
Conklin hopes for the photo series to grow beyond her group of friends and their friends. The project has yet to receive a photo from a complete stranger. To date, the pose has reached 20 countries and six continents. Conklin says she hopes to one day reach all seven because to her it means she’d have a piece of herself and her mission all over the world.
“The SaraPose is Sara’s scrapbook of life so far,” Cheryl Conklin said. “Somehow I feel it is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Adriana Rodriguez, a senior journalism major, produced this story in the JOU 3303 Advanced News Writing course taught by Dr. Fred Blevens.
This is absolutely amazing!! I’m going back to Spain soon and I will certainly do one with my friends!