Petra Collins returns home for a new dreamy series. The feminine-focused photographer showcases her personal work in her birthplace, Toronto.
The Toronto born photographer Petra Collins has been collaborating with big brands like Gucci and Nordstorm, produced editorial with Kim Kardashian and Bella Hadid (recently having a secret project with Selena Gomez), and directed music video for Carly Rae Jepsen by the age of 24. She proclaimed herself as an artist and curator, inspiring this generation with her dreamy film portrayals of youth, femininity and sexuality in an intimate and beautiful way.
At age 18, she moved to New York with just $500 in her pocket and started her career by contributing in independent magazine called “Rookie,” founded by her best friend Tavi Gevinson. “(Tavi) is the words to the images I create, and I am the images to the words she creates,” Collins explained in Forbes interview. She has come a long way and she hasn’t finished yet, her latest exhibition is coming this month and giving us a glimpse of her personal life, all wrapped up in Collin’s dream-like aesthetic.
Titled “Pacifier”, the exhibition opens on April 29th at the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto. She traveled to Hungary, where her mother lived during the country’s communist regime before fleeing to Canada as a refugee. Through her lens we will see her family member such as her sister, Anna Collins pictured in up close and showered in moody lights and her young cousin, dressed in Gucci fringe jacket, as the sun went down on the background giving an ethereal feeling to the picture and a perfect title, “The Little Prince.”
In her recent interview with New York Magazine, she explained that personal story is important than ever, especially for artist who has privilege to share the story through art, “When you see stories about women that aren’t being told by women, it can make you feel like you don’t exist,” she said. “I think it’s important for not just me but women of color, trans women, and people who are marginalized to be telling stories of themselves. It’s important for us to be behind the lens.”
‘Pacifier’ is on at CONTACT gallery, Toronto from 29 April to 23 June 2017.