Tips on Writing an Artist Statement
I am often asked to offer tips to help photographers write their artist statement. I am well aware that it is often viewed as one of the least pleasurable parts of presenting your work. It is crucially important though for you to work through this. There are positives, it will offer a valuable experience to reflect on your own work and various aspects of your practice.
When drafting your artist statement remember that it is your words that are trying to express your art, in your absence. The artist statement should be concise and well written in a conversational language. Try not to over complicate it. Consider your audience, there is a subtle difference in writing style depending on whether you’re writing for a comercial gallery and their audience or if it’s part of a university application for a PhD. Be modest about what you’re trying to achieve.
Essentially, when considering writing an artist statement the only person you need to question, is yourself. Ask yourself these questions:
What is your motivation for creating this body of work?
What do you intend for the viewer to determine after scrutinising your work?
When considering your competition (artists that are creating images with comparable subjects), why do your images stand apart?
How do your photographic/art techniques communicate your concepts?
What questions do you feel your work raises in an audience?
Who are you influenced by, photographically or artistically?
I hope this helps! Good luck.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
