The Original Influencers: Iconic Female Photographers

The Original Influencers: Iconic Female Photographers

May 6, 2022

Historically, photography was often seen as a crowded place for men. However, thanks to the passion and opinion of numerous incredible women, photography has gained a sublime state of both art and discipline. We wanted to take a moment to honor some of these women who make an impact on society through their art that highlights the focus on the intersections of art, gender, and sexuality.

Nan Goldin

Born September 12, 1953 in Washington, DC

American photographer and activist, Nan Goldin was born in Washington D.C. in 1953. She lives and works in New York City, Berlin, and Paris. She is known as one of the most important and influential artists of her generation, Goldin has revolutionized the art of photography through her frank and deeply personal style of photography. Since the early 1970s, Her work has often explored LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Over the last 45 years Goldin has created some of the most indelible images of the 20th and 21st centuries. By documenting her life and the lives of the friends who surround her, Goldin gives a voice and visibility to her communities.

Cindy Sherman

Born January 19, 1954 in Glenn Ridge, NJ

Born in New Jersey in 1954, Cindy Sherman is recognized as one of the most important and influential artists in contemporary art. Throughout her career, she has questioned the construction of identity, playing with the visual and cultural codes of art, celebrity, gender, and photography. She has drawn most of her inspiration from the unlimited supply of images from movies, TV, magazines, the Internet, and art history. She has been working as her own model for more than 30 years, and has captured herself in a range of characters which are often amusing and sometimes disturbing. To create her photographs, she assumes multiple roles of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, stylist, and wardrobe mistress. With a collection of wigs, costumes, makeup, prosthetics, and props, Sherman has cleverly altered her physique and surroundings to create a myriad of intriguing tableaus and personas, from screen siren to clown to aging socialite.

Sophie Calle

Born October 9, 1953 in Paris, France

Paris-born abstract artist Sophie Calle is known for her works that use narrative, photography, text, and video in provocative studies of human life and experience. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. She is recognized for her detective-like tendency to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Her photographic work often includes panels of text of her own writing. She explores what it is to be an observer and to be observed; she stalks and writes down her findings with the precision of a police report or a psychiatrist’s case notes. Her work ranges from photography and film to performance and installation and has electrified the Paris art scene with its quest-like intensity.