Mom and Her Pearl Ring
Oh Baby Doll, You Just Dreamt
The Belt
STEPHANIE SCHWIEDEREK | INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Q. How did your passion for art begin taking shape for you—at home, school, a mentor, and other artists who inspired you or a personal experience that started the fermenting.
A. Initially my art began taking shape during my time at community college. I was introduced to the works of Richard Billingham and Jim Goldberg. From there my body of work Zuhause began to form. Through these inspirations I began looking into my past, family history, and having grown up in a motel for thirteen years. Through the cathartic process of photographing my family and myself, I found my passion within the idea of family dynamics in peril.
Q. How would you describe your artwork, in terms of materials or mediums? Has it changed or evolved since formal training and what are your goals for it?
A. My primary medium lies in the snapshot photograph, and its attempt in documenting reality. During my time at Mason Gross School of the Arts my work has slowly evolved into the exploration of found photographs and ephemera my family saved through the years. My goals as I enter graduate school is to experiment in combining found images and memorabilia with new photographs in order to understand the past while remaining connected to the present.
Q. How important is a personal style to you as an artist or does your work reflect larger?
A. I think that having a personal style is important, but I also believe that finding the subject matter that makes one excited in their practice should feel more weighted. I find many artist nowadays get lost in having a personal style and that the concept they were originally interested in becomes lost. I think there is a balance between the two.
Q. Has being a woman affected your work and others’ perception of it? How do you feel about being part of a woman’s art organization?
A. I am a female artist working in a medium that is dominated by men. Furthermore, being a woman affected by violence and harassment both in my adolescence and even now as an adult has certainly affected my work and the perceptions that lie within it. I want to continue to create work within the familial while remaining cognizant in speaking to society, class, identity, gender, and politics. Being asked to be a part of a woman’s organization is both empowering and humbling. Together I feel we can make change and create the balance and equality we deserve.
