R.S.I left my home in Sydney, Australia, when I was 16 years old and moved to London to study ballet; shortly afterwards I joined the Batsheva Ensemble. I think it was a very formative and intense period for me, which greatly influenced my way of seeing, thinking and relating to people and my work. It was an interesting time because I went quite far, I could learn from the dance, reflecting, there was a unique way to feel your movements and sensations. I still teach gaga, it is such a rewarding experience, the closest thing I found to being really present in the moment. It is a beautiful language.

R.S.I had understood that I didn't want to dance anymore, I always liked the research on movement and physicality, but I didn't really like the performative part in first person. It had come to an end and I didn't really know what I wanted to do anymore. “Do I still want to do something creative?” That was the real question at the time. Finally, I decided that I really wanted… actually I just fell into photography. I thought: “Okay, I'll apply for art schools, if I get in, I'll go, if not I'll do something else for a while”. I was accepted and I started to appreciate the medium right away. I always loved the connection that photography establishes with reality, although it has this very subjective bond – nothing is very real in an image – yet it still manages to provoke a unique feeling of connection with life, with the present moment. Photography has something powerful, it has the potential to move something in people, this is the part I really like.

R.S.I don't think there are any differences in my approach to photography or performance. I think it's a way of proceeding inherent in my performative gaze that has been formed since I was young. The interesting thing about dance is that it is so expressive, a language that avoids words through gestures, movements. This has always interested me and photography can speak the same way. I don't know how much one affects the other. I felt uncomfortable acting, performing on stage. I enjoyed the physical sensation of dancing and interacting with people, but I didn't like being in the centre of the scene. Thanks to photography, my role has changed.

R.S.I feel that my practice is less related to eroticism and more to sensuality. In my opinion, sensuality can come from and expand from all sorts of things, it is found in textures, body gestures, landscapes. I find that when you experience some form of sensuality, in those moments there is a kind of truth, no filter and no protection between subject and object, a lot of availability in the space. This is the point, transparency.

R.S.Yes, I think it depends on the object: some are wonderfully masculine, others feminine; I naturally tend to look for femininity rather than masculinity. For me it's much easier to find sensuality in objects, in texture, in the way light falls on something, but I'm curious to see what happens when you bring a person into this, playing with that moment, coming into contact with my sensuality in space.

R.S.In the lamp, femininity was essentially linked to its form and presence. That beautiful kind of dome produced a warm light that encouraged softness and relaxation, so much that to interact with it you were supposed to be kind; it promoted tactility and slow movements; and all this I found deeply feminine