The last time I entered a photo contest I was still living I my hometown and probably 19. It was at the local community college and I won first place for a black and white street scene taken from the Georges Pompidou in Paris. I cut out two shapes of people and blocked the light from the enlarger from hitting the print in that area. I've always been interested in this idea of connectiveness. I guess somethings never change. All these years later in still concerned with the idea of people finding common ground no matter where they are from.
I recently decided to spread my wings a little and try new things again.
Here's my entry into The Magnum Photography Contest
Xoxo Suzanne
The Town
This body of work is about the idea of a town that is created in many places but exists in one body of work. I’m interested in what we can have in common. Maybe our sameness can expand our compassion. I’d like to change the idea that our identity is based on us versus them. That countries need borders and walls to separate us.
Our beginnings and endings, trials and errors, questions of identity and worth, dreams and risks can take place on any street. Beauty is in the door frame we walk by without a second glance, the public art that questions gender or our most basic assumptions, in the buttons you push to get entrance/acceptance. This is my collection of images and wishes that seeing beauty in a space might help others to see beauty in each other. I hope that each image reminds you of something. Maybe your hometown or somewhere you’ve visited. I am looking for the familiar in far away places.
