Photo Credit: Zoe Strauss, 2011.
Zoe Strauss is a photo-based, conceptual, installation artist. She was given a camera on her 30th birthday and began making photos in her neighborhood. Her photographs consist of dilapidated architecture, perplexing signage, and the ordinary lives of the people in her city. Her work is known for its candid, raw, and gritty reflection of the standard of living in the marginalized neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
I had the opportunity to experience Strauss speak at The Art Institute in 2009. As a photographer, she has been accused of exploiting the inhabitants of her neighborhood who are viewed as living on the edges of society. She fired back at this accusation by stating that she just simply made photos of her neighbors and how they are interpreted has nothing to do with her intent. She argued that if she was seen as exploiting the people in her neighborhood, then she was therefore exploiting herself since she co-existed with the people she photographed. Her work contemplates what she describes as, “the beauty and struggle of everyday life.”
In 1995, Strauss started the Philadelphia Public Art Project to give the citizens of Philadelphia access to art in their everyday lives. The project commissions new works of public art in addition to assisting with temporary art initiatives with non-profit organizations. An inclusion of this project is, Under I-95, which takes place beneath the Interstate highway in South Philadelphia. The area beneath is a functional public space that serves as an outdoor gallery as Strauss displays her photos on the concrete pillars beneath the highway.
Strauss’ work is pivotal to the urban city in that it reflects its most real and deepest aspects. Her work is powerful, sincere, explicit, and influential. Using the city as her backdrop and its inhabitants as the source of her inspiration, her photographs reflect daily life in and ever-changing city.
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