Meet Lauren Silberman | Artist and Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Silberman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is integral to everything I’ve ever done in my career, from the bottom up. And things that used to feel risky, no longer do. For instance, as a photographer, it used to feel incredible risky to approach people and ask to photograph them or to ask for access to photograph something. I was afraid and vulnerable approaching them – what if they say no? What if the photograph I make sucks? There was a lot of doubt and fear of failure holding me back from starting. Harnessing the courage and confidence to start approaching people was just the beginning of taking bigger risks – it was like practice, and better risk taking came with practice.

Other things that felt like a risk were going to grad school – it was placing a huge a bet on myself. Then after grad school, taking clients and showing up has been a way of constantly taking risks. Putting my time and money into myself has been one giant risk – and some decisions have paid off better than others, but all of them I have learned from.

Risk taking gets easier and is a part of the job. I didn’t grow up in risk-taking family, per se, so following my path of being an artist has been one giant risk. There has been doubt every step of the way, but not enough to stop me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m proud of the fact that I’ve stuck with my love for art and photography after all these years in an industry that is extremely fickle and competitive. It took me a lot of hard work to get here – I started at the bottom, answering phones at a photo studio in 2001 and worked my way up to assisting and studio managing before deciding to spend two years developing my vision at a graduate program at the International Center of Photography at Bard. There have absolutely been highs and lows, but I believe my consistent dedication to my subject matter and craft have contributed my reputation,

Speaking of my work in a more specific way, I have followed my passions and used photography to access communities that I am interested in and fascinated by. I have photographed a renegade bicycle club, artists in New Orleans, drag queens in their homes, and circus performers in the desert. I see my work as a celebration of my subjects and as a loving gesture and I think this comes through in the work. I’m grateful to everyone who has trusted me to let me photograph them. I’ve basically been interested in subcultures on the fringe of mainstream society, and looking back on all my work, I have begun to see my work as a very specific reflection of what America and American culture looks like through alternative culture. I’ve always been interested in the underdogs and the weirdos. This might be because I always considered myself one.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There are so many things! To start, here’s a list: Ride the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island
Walk over the Williamsburg Bridge to the Lower East Side
Go dancing at NightMoves in Williamsburg or Good Room in Greenpoint
Sundays in the summer are for dancing: Soul Summit in Fort Greene Park, Sunday Soul Scream at Our Wicked Lady, or Tiki Disco (if it’s happening at Roberta’s in Bushwick)
Go see a rock show at Tv Eye in Ridgewood
Eat at Cafe Mogador
Shop for vintage at Beacon’s Closet
…and if you’re really nice to me, I’ll drive you out to Marina 59 in Rockaway Beach where we can hang out on a houseboat and swim in the ocean

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I wouldn’t have gotten into making art if it wasn’t for the community of artists and weirdos that I surround myself with. And I say weirdos with totally admiration and affection. I was part of a DIY community in the early 2000s that made culture for themselves and on their own terms, and it was totally liberating. I started making photographs as a way of participating in the rich underground nightlife and party scene and the scene was a part of my work as much as it inspired it. I owe thanks to friends in the now defunct Madagascar Institute, Jeff Stark of Nonsense NYC, artist friends and collaborators Tracy Gilman and Alita Edgar for always inviting me to work on projects with them. My connections to this community inspired me to continue making photographs and art and inspired a curiosity in me that could only be satisfied through making work.

I have friends and colleagues from graduate school and art residencies who I have relied on over the years for support in my work – everything from editing grant and residency applications, to skill sharing, to providing honest and rigorous critique of my work; Alyssa Taylor Wendt, Jamie Diamond, Elisabeth Smolarz, Corinne Botz, Jennifer Rodewald and Esperanza Mayobre are all talented artists to whom I owe endless thanks and shout outs!

I could keep naming people, but I’d also like to give a shout out to one of my absolute favorite books on art and popular culture called Air Guitar by Dave Hickey. Hickey seamlessly weaves together essays about jazz, basketball, and Las Vegas (among other things) and how they exist in culture. It is a book that I constantly return to for its poignancy and humor and Hickey’s ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Website: www.laurensilberman.com

Instagram: @lauren_silberman

Image Credits
Personal photo to be credited to Jennifer Rodewald
All featured photos courtesy of Lauren Silberman