Laurie Edison

Laurie Edison

 

Artist Statment

I grew up in New York City, and have lived in San Francisco for half of my life.  I became a photographer 25 years ago at the age of 47.  Until recently, my work has focused on the beauty and complexity of real bodies.

My suites of black and white darkroom portraits include Women of Japan (clothed portraits of women from many cultures and backgrounds) done in collaboration with Japanese feminists, and my books Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes (1994) and Familiar Men:  A Book of Nudes (2004).  My work in progress is “Memory Landscapes: A Visual Memoir,” a color digital exploration of my life in time.  I’m an activist focusing on body image (broadly interpreted) and related issues.  I blog with my editor and writing partner, Debbie Notkin, at Body Impolitic (http://laurietobyedison.com/discuss/).

My work has been exhibited internationally over the last 25 years.  The most recent exhibitions were a group of photographs in The Allure of the Collection, the 35th Anniversary Exhibition at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and international feminist exhibitions including “Woman + Body,” in Seoul and Gwangju, South Korea, and “Half the Sky” in Shenyang, China.

My photos in “Body, bodies, bodies” are nude portraits of Tee Corinne and Samuel R. Delany.

The portrait of my friend Tee Corinne was taken shortly before her death in 2006. Tee was a groundbreaking Lesbian erotic artist whose works included the Cunt Coloring Book, solarized erotic photographs of lesbians, and her remarkable final project “Scars, Stoma, Ostomy Bag, Portacath: Picturing Cancer In Our Lives.”

The portrait of Samuel R. Delany is from Familiar Men. He is a poet, literary critic, and has just been named a grandmaster of science fiction by the Science Fiction Writers of America. From his earliest books as a science fiction writer, his work has included issues of sexuality, ethnicity, race and gender, including polyamorous love. He brought queerness into the future.

My website is Laurie Toby Edison: Photographer (laurietobyedison.com).