Artist Statement
Photography allows me to engage with people in deep and intimate ways. No one is a stranger. When I look through the lens, I see the wonder of each individual, of each moment. Barriers break down and time no longer exists. The photos themselves are not important; it is all about that split second when my subject and I become one. Even self portraits can connect us to ourselves.
Process Statement
Digital photography suits my intuitive nature. I cannot stop to think about the process or even the product, but must be free to shoot as unselfconsciously as I breathe. Of course, it helps that I studied art in college and was a painter for 30 years before picking up a camera. The fundamentals of composition, form, value and color are encoded in my creative DNA, while the technical aspects of photography will always be a mystery.
Born in Washington, DC in 1942, Patricia Lay-Dorsey brings her training as a social worker and decades as a visual artist to her work as a photographer. She is all about seeing herself and others from an insider’s point of view.
Patricia’s self portrait project, "Falling Into Place," took 1st prize in the Emotions category of the 2013 Photo Annual Awards in Prague and is currently on exhibit in Teplic, Czech Republic. In 2010 it was awarded 3rd prize in the FotoVisura Grant for Outstanding Personal Photography Project.
“Falling Into Place” has been featured in print in Newsweek Japan and New Mobility magazines, and online on the New York Times Lens blog, ABC News, CBS News, The Daily Mail (London), Slate Magazine's Behold blog, Visura Magazine, Burn Magazine, PDN Photo of the Day, Fototazo, Lenscratch and in Catherine Edelman's The Chicago Project. An image from this project was included in the 2011 Beauty CULTure exhibit at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, and appeared in Lauren Greenfield's "Beauty CULTure" documentary film. Patricia was a finalist in Photolucida’s Critical Mass 2012.
Fotofest Biennial 2012 Meeting Place portfolio reviews led to Patricia having solo exhibits of "Falling Into Place" at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA (January 17-March 3, 2013), and at Fovea Exhibitions in Beacon, NY (April 13-July 7, 2013).
"Falling Into Place: self portraits," the book, was published in November 2013 by Ffotogallery in Cardiff, Wales. Copies of the book are available for sale at the International Center of Photography (ICP) bookstore in NYC, Fovea Exhibitions in Beacon, NY and online on Amazon.com
Patricia’s photographs have been exhibited in print and/or slides in Detroit (including the solo exhibit, “Active Elders” at the Ellen Kayrod Gallery in March 2009), Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Washington, DC, Toronto, Beijing and Helsinki. In 2008, Patricia was the Detroit location scout for Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim‘s documentary film, “It Might Get Loud.” That same year her project, “Dualities,” was published as a Bonus Portfolio by LensWork. In 2011, the American-Journal featured “Just Another Married Couple,” Patricia’s intimate portrait of a same sex couple in post-Proposition 8 California.
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