Portfolio of the Week: Stephanie Diamond, In the Rough

Background by

I like it show next

all about the competition

back

People

RSS

Portfolio of the Week: Stephanie Diamond, In the Rough October 27, 2009

Remember when photos were something you could hold, and you glued them in albums, stuck them to your fridge, mailed them in envelopes? Those days may be ancient history for most of us, but the photographer Stephanie Diamond still takes her pictures the good old-fashioned way. She shoots on rolls of film, and keeps her photos archived in boxes - all 150,000 of them. And, even though she's also very web-savvy, her original and insightful projects often use photography as a way to connect and share with other people without using a computer. As hopeless screen-addicts, we were eager to get a chance to talk to her about her ideas and inspirations.

Q: You've been a photographer since you were 13. How did you get started taking pictures at such a young age?

A: I took my first photo class at camp.

I remember learning that my photo counselors were college students studying photography, and was very dismissive at first. I thought anyone could take photos, and there was nothing more to learn.

Later, studying photography at RISD, I wrote those counselors a letter of thanks and acknowledgment.

Q: Could you briefly sum up your creative style?

A: It is my wish that with photos, a person begins to feel that there is really no separation between the subject in the photo, the object they are holding, and themselves. Photo, for me, is proof that we are all connected.

Q: Do you think that other art forms can serve this function, of showing connections between people, too?

A: As a child, I often wondered what I would do if I were alive during a movement, like the Civil Rights or Women's Liberation movements. Today I believe we are in a Movement of Consciousness, and I am an active participant.

Photography, teaching, and dance are the tools I use to contribute. Some people work with sculpture, performance, law, yoga, writing, or swimming as their modality, but I believe we are all living with the same purpose.

Q: How many pictures do you take on a typical day?

A: It actually depends on the month, and where I am.

When traveling I take 6 - 10 rolls of film a day. In the summer, my favorite time, I take 1 - 2 rolls a day, but in the winter months I shoot a lot less. I shoot about 170 - 200 rolls per year, around 7,000 images.

I have been making photos since I was 13, so I have almost 150,000 images in my archive.

Q: What inspirations do you turn to when you are feeling blocked?

A: Dancing!

I practice the 5 Rhythms three to four times a week. By dancing these rhythms I step out of my head and enter into a meditative state of being.

Q: One of your past projects is called "It Would Look Like...". Can you tell us a little about the thinking behind this project and how it was carried out?

A: I anonymously ask questions about photographs to a selected community, then use the responses as a guide to select images from my personal archive.

These personal images, when shared, take on a new meaning and evoke new experiences. When they are then viewed in the gallery setting, they are experienced in a new way once again. What begins as a personal process for me becomes a communal experience for many.

It Would Look Like... was first created with Latin American immigrants living in the suburbs of New York City for an exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art called I Heart the Burbs! , then for the exhibition Captive Audience at Gallery 400 in Chicago.

Most recently, It Would Look Like... was created at Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas, working with the mothers in their Young Mother's Residence Program.

Q: What are some projects that you are working on or planning right now?

A: Snap Sharing is an interactive project where I set up a booth, then psychically and intuitively read people's photos: cell phone photos, driver's licenses, snap shots, art photos - anything. I offer the service for free. Readings can take a few minutes or more.

Recently I've created Snap Sharing with the Bronx Museum, Project Row Houses and Columbia University MFA students. I have read for museum directors, curators, artists, people off the street, whole families, even my own family.

Another one, the Listings Project, is a weekly e-mail of artist's studio and living space available for rent, sale or swap, which currently has almost 3,000 people on it! You can get additional info and join the e-mail list on my website.

Q: Do you think that widespread, daily use of the internet has changed the way people interact with images, especially photographs, in any significant way?

A: Yes, but I believe it is not just the Internet that is driving this change. Almost anyone can own or use a camera, and the average person has widespread access to photography, even simply by looking at a billboard on the street, or possessing a driver's license.

Your own photo ID is a gateway. Without this image, you would not only be barred from your local bar, but also from getting a bank account, traveling, voting, getting married, going to school...

Photography has become our universal language.