While “In Exile” has a rather constructed, fixed geometry, its sharp angles are replaced by a more fluid layout. Sabella, finding an accelerated comfort with abandoning previous artistic and emotional constraints, created the series “In Transition.” Here the artist uses images of natural elements such as grass and trees. Standing for growth and movement, yet also something that was rooted, these are used to indicate a first step in coming to terms with his state of uprootedness.

In contrast, the Euphoria triptych is a joyous retinal explosion. Cut and assembled from hundreds of fragments of trees, like those shown In Transition, the resulting photomontages of organic fluidity emanate cathartic relief and a transcendence of the state of ‘mental exile.

In Transition came next, stemming from an awareness that, “there is no need to create art just from depression.” Sabella’s hands shook as he shot trees and grass in London – elements chosen for their organic quality and their allusion to growth, movement and change. Some areas of the images are heavily blurred, while others are distinctly clear – an intentional pictorial definition of the series’ name. One cannot dispute that the work suggests a phase-like, in-limbo, quality.