Zoe Strauss (born 1970) is an American photographer[1] and a nominee member of
Magnum Photos.[2] She uses
Philadelphia as a primary setting and subject for her work.[1][2] Curator Peter Barberie identifies her as a
street photographer, like
Walker Evans or
Robert Frank, and has said "the woman and man on the street, yearning to be heard, are the basis of her art."[3]
Strauss was born in 1970 in
Philadelphia.[11] Her father died when she was 5. She was the first member of her immediate family to graduate from high school. For her 30th birthday she was given a camera and started photographing in the city's marginal neighborhoods.[12] She is a photo-based installation artist who uses Philadelphia as a primary setting and subject for her work. Strauss typically photographs overlooked (or purposefully avoided) details with a humanist perspective and eye for composure.[13]
In 1995, Strauss started the Philadelphia Public Art Project, a one-woman organization whose mission is to give the citizens of Philadelphia access to art in their everyday lives.[14] Strauss calls the Project an "epic narrative" of her own neighborhood.[14] "When I started shooting, it was as if somewhere hidden in my head I had been waiting for this," she has said.[14]
Between 2000 and 2011, Strauss's photographic work culminated in a yearly Under I-95 show which took place in a public space beneath an
I-95 highway overpass in
South Philadelphia.[11] She displayed her photographs on concrete bridge supports under the highway and offered photocopies for $5 each.[1] The exhibit Zoe Strauss: 10 Years was organized by the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it appeared in 2012, and was also shown at the
International Center of Photography, New York City, in 2013/2014.[15][16] The show was a mid-career retrospective, building upon Strauss' ten years of photographic works, shown yearly from 2001 up to 2010. The 2012 exhibition was the first critical assessment of Strauss' ten-year project,[6][17] and was accompanied by a 250-illustration catalogue, Zoe Strauss: 10 Years.[3]
The 2012 Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition included the installation throughout Philadelphia of 54 billboards featuring Strauss' photographs. Although they could be viewed individually, the images were loosely structured around the themes of the Odyssey, journey and homecoming.[18] In this, the Billboard Project was similar to Strauss' annual I-95 exhibition which she describes as an "epic narrative about the beauty and struggle of everyday life".[19] The Billboard Project included photographs from Strauss's travels around the country, from the Gulf of Mexico to Fairbanks, AK.[18][19]
She frequently photographs near her grandparents' former home at 16th and Susquehanna.[20] Her photographs include shuttered buildings, empty parking lots and vacant meeting halls in South Philadelphia. Strauss says her work is "a narrative about the beauty and difficulty of everyday life."[21]
In July 2012 Strauss was elected into the
Magnum Photos agency as a nominee.[2]
^Heller, Karen (February 15, 2006), Page A01, "Suddenly, Her Images Clicked". The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
^Sozanski, Edward J (April 30, 2004), Page W25, "Taking Images of the streets back to their birthplace. Catch it While you can: Photos Alfresco Returns". The Philadelphia Inquirer
^allisons (November 2, 2017).
"Zoe Strauss". LAMAR DODD SCHOOL OF ART. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
^"Zoe Strauss (Biography)". Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation 2011 Biennial Awards. Retrieved March 3, 2017.