Multidisciplinary artist Laura Shill always felt like an outside observer. Her grandfather recognized this in her as a child and gifted her a hot pink point-and-shoot camera, which turned out to be the start for an early career in photojournalism. However, a few years into that career, she felt uneasy about using her camera as a weapon to show people at their lowest moments. Instead, she chose to pursue an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and explore the artistic side of photography. Today, her “brain works more in 3D,” as she puts it, and she focuses most of her art practice in sculpture. In this episode of the podcast, Laura and host R. Alan Brooks discuss the performative and vulnerable aspects of photography, using art to connect with other people, carving out a space for other weirdos, and more.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Follow Laura on Instagram

Check out Laura's website

Tank Studios

Camp Tintype

Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle (Laura accidentally calls it Spectacle of the South)

“Phantom Touch” (Laura’s “pink tube” project that appeared at MCA Denver in 2015 as part of the Thief Among Thieves exhibition)

Watch a video about Laura's work, "Including Other in the Self" (based on the psychological study and subsequent New York Times article, “The 36 Questions That Lead to Love”)