| Zoe Strauss’ star has risen. After garnering notice in her native Philadelphia, Strauss was selected by curator Chrissy Iles for “Day for Night” at the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Remarkably, Strauss continues to make her work as accessible as possible, even amid a flurry of media attention, with affordable prints (every print sells for $5 each); her annual public, large-scale solo exhibitions; a free photo-of-the-week for her mailing list and a generously image-stocked website and accompanying blog. Zoe Strauss waits for no one to jettison her into the stratosphere. |  |
Zoe Strauss – Danielle Jackson
Zoe Strauss’ star has risen. After garnering notice in her native Philadelphia, Strauss was selected by curator Chrissy Iles for “Day for Night” at the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Remarkably, Strauss continues to make her work as accessible as possible, even amid a flurry of media attention, with affordable prints (every print sells for $5 each); her annual public, large-scale solo exhibitions; a free photo-of-the-week for her mailing list and a generously image-stocked website and accompanying blog. Zoe Strauss waits for no one to jettison her into the stratosphere.
Through her exploration of South Philadelphia, Zoe Strauss photographs more than everyday people or places, but lifestyles, politics, and collective memory. Often compared to Diane Arbus or Nan Goldin, formally reminiscent of William Eggleston or Walker Evans, Strauss’ work manages to respectfully capture the idiosyncrasies of working-class South Philadelphia. Although there is a somber feeling present in her photographs of possibly abandoned people and places, her body of work possesses a sincere, lighthearted joy despite being placed in rundown locations.
Danielle Jackson: What is your medium?
Zoe Strauss: I am an installation artist and photographer.
DJ: I love that your work focuses on aesthetic details. I’m familiar with this sort of Pennsylvania working class terrain; the datedness of the graphic design, the abandoned locations, the eclectic personal style. It’s quirky and makeshift, both of which can be a good thing or a bad thing. As a photographer, do you feel you must remove yourself a bit in order to depict some of the bizarre qualities you’ve captured? Some people wouldn’t see the uniqueness for what it is, especially if you are already accustomed to it. Why do you like to shoot what you do?
ZS: Yes, a lot of my work focuses on aesthetic details and it’s those details that make the viewer able to relate to the image even if they don’t know the context of the photo. I work on having the particular and the universal in the photos that have a distinct personal or regional style in them. And it’s not really that I have to remove myself, but I sometimes feel as if I have to get out of my own head and be a little unconscious when I’m shooting or the end result will look forced. All of the formal gridded images come from just seeing them in the moment, as well as the portraits, so I guess what that means is that I don’t really know why I like to shoot what I do, except that I’m just feeling it in the moment. Not that I always get it in the moment though, I return to places if I’m unable to a make a photo at the time when I see a good composition but it always comes from an initial feeling. That being said, there are things that draw me in every time like mattresses and payphones.
DJ: A lot of your work relies upon the power of written word: billboards, graffiti, handmade signs, cursive-letter tattoos, painted notices to the public. Why are you drawn to these messages? How do they reflect the character of South Philly?
ZS: There’s a bunch of reasons for the text heaviness of my photos but I have two big ones. First, I’m very interested in language and so I’m always drawn to words and statements. Also, I like to think of the big yearly installation that I do under 95 (Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania) as a palindrome in terms of the way I’ve installed it, so I want a good number of the images to reflect the idea of reading in both a literal and figurative way.
DJ: You mentioned in a recent interview that your work explores desire. Can you elaborate on this?
ZS: Why, of course! Human desire runs through much of my work in both explicit and subtle ways. I have several themes that I focus on in my work on the whole, including the everyday construct of gender, addiction, American identity, getting by and hope and pride. Desire is completely intertwined with my exploration of all those issues.
DJ: How have your subjects responded to images of themselves?
ZS: Generally, the people in my portraits don’t see the finished image. Almost all of the portraits I make are of strangers and I don’t ever see them again. But the folks who do see the finished work range from thrilled to surprisingly disinterested. Actually, I’m always coming around to see if I can catch my neighbor whose photo I’ve taken a couple of times over the last six years and she’s always interested what I’m doing now but has no interest in the photos of herself.
DJ: In what direction do you see yourself moving? What projects are up next?
ZS: The number one project I’m interested in is laying on the sofa. But the I-95 project is a 10-year project so I’m going to be working on that for the next four years and I’m thinking that I’m pretty much just staying the course with the content and composition of my photos. And I’m having “Zoe Strauss Night” at the Whitney on September 15th this year and then my annual works- in-progress slide show in October.
DJ: Finally, how important to you (if at all) is it that images of low-income America are available to the world?
ZS: It’s extremely important to me that images of working-class America are available to the world. Although I don’t regard my work as documentary, I hope that my work reflects both the beauty and struggle of everyday life. That’s how we roll in South Philly!
