For anyone with a marginalised identity, being absent in and erased from mainstream imagery can be painful. Each fighting for that visibility in their own ways are photographers Collier Schorr and Ella Snyder, whose work goes beyond the confines of cisheteronormativity to provide perspectives on gender and identity that have rarely been centred in the worlds of fashion and art.
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Schorr, who got into photography when she recognised the need for a lesbian voice in the art world of 1980s New York, has blazed a decades-spanning trail, inspiring generations of young artists to be the change they wish to see in the world. Her images have created an established space for queer voices to speak truth to power through art.
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Snyder, meanwhile, is a New York-based model, photographer, YouTuber – and long term superfan of Schorr’s. She is currently working on her first photography book, supported by a grant from the 2020 Dazed 100 Ideas Fund in partnership with Converse. The book focuses on the transgender community and her place within it – a process of restoring a vital connection lost after she began transitioning at the age of 11 and subsequently lived stealth. A decade later, Snyder openly embraces her full identity and uses her talents to create powerful connections within the trans community and the world writ large.
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As part of her Dazed 100 takeover, Snyder speaks to Schorr for the first time – in a conversation that captures the innovative, nonconformist spirit that bridges Generations X and Z, the two discuss the ways in which photography can be used as a tool of liberation to reimagine a world where the full spectrum of selfhood can be celebrated.
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