Biography

Born in Philadelphia, Strauss was given a camera for her 30th birthday and started taking pictures of life in the city’s marginal neighborhoods. She is a photo-based installation artist who uses Philadelphia as a primary setting and subject for her work. Out in the streets, Strauss typically photographs whatever strikes her interest, paying particular attention to the overlooked (or purposefully avoided) details of life.

In 1995, she started the Philadelphia Public Art Project, a one-woman organization whose mission is to give the citizens of Philadelphia access to art in their everyday lives.
Strauss’s photographic work culminates in a yearly “Under I-95” show, which takes place beneath the Interstate highway in South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west.-History:...

. She displays her photographs on concrete pillars under the highway and sells photocopied prints of her work for $5 each.
Strauss now calls the Philadelphia Public Art Project an “epic narrative” of her own neighborhood. “When I started shooting, it was as if somewhere hidden in my head I had been waiting for this,” she says.

In 2002, she received a Seedling Award in photography from the Leeway Foundation.
In 2005, she received a Pew Fellowship

Pew Fellowships in the Arts

The Pew Fellowships in the Arts is an organization established by the Pew Charitable Trusts in 1991 which awards grants to Philadelphia-area artists. The grants provide artists with an economic freedom that presents the opportunity to focus on their individual practices over a considerable period...

.
In 2006, her work was included in the Whitney Biennial

Whitney Biennial

The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...

; she also mounted a solo exhibition, "Ramp Project: Zoe Strauss" at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to exhibiting the innovative...

.

Zoe Strauss was named a 2007 USA Gund Fellow and granted $50,000 by United States Artists

United States Artists

United States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...

, an arts advocacy foundation dedicated to the support and promotion of America's top living artists.

The first member of her immediate family to graduate from high school, Strauss is deeply connected to her roots and her surroundings. She frequently shoots near her grandparents' former home at 16th and Susquehanna, and her mother lives a few blocks from Strauss' rowhouse (her father died when she was 6). Three younger siblings - there are three surnames between them - are artistic, "super smart and engaging." Brother Cosmo Baker

Cosmo Baker

Cosmo Baker is a New York based DJ, music producer, and turntablist.Baker was born in Reno, Nevada and at two years of age, he moved back to his family's hometown Philadelphia, with his mother and older sister, photographer Zoe Strauss...

 is a noted DJ in Philadelphia and New York.

Strauss’s photos of shuttered buildings, empty parking lots and vacant meeting halls illuminate her South Philly neighborhood’s grim character. Her intimate portraits capture the dignified resignation of its residents. Strauss says her work is “a narrative about the beauty and difficulty of everyday life."

Zoe Strauss is the author of America, published November 2008 by AMMO Books.

Grants and awards

• 2007 USA Gund Fellow, Visual Arts

• 2005 Pew Fellowship in the Arts

• 2004 Arcadia University Works on Paper “Friends of Arcadia Award”

• 2002 Leeway Emerging Artist grant

Solo exhibitions

• 2010 Zoe Strauss: Works for Columbus, OH, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

• 2010 Photographs by Zoe Strauss, Under I-95, Philadelphia, PA

• 2009 America: We Love Having You Here, Bruce Silverstein Gallery
  Bruce Silverstein Gallery
  Bruce Silverstein Gallery was established in 2001. Bruce Silverstein Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in the Chelsea Art District in New York City. The Gallery's main exhibition space is located at 535 West 24th Street with another location at 529 West 20th Street...
  
  , New York, NY

• 2008 Zoe Strauss: Works in Progress, Peeler Art Center, Depauw University, Greencastle, IN

• 2007 IF YOU READING THIS, Silverstein Photography, New York, NY

• 2007 I-95 Works in Progress, Etc. Galerie, Prague, Czech Republic

• 2006 Ramp Project, Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA

• 2006 Projected and Selected Images, Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

• 2001-2010 Under 95 exhibit, Front St. and Mifflin St., the 1st weekend of May annually, Philadelphia, PA

• 2002-2006 (ongoing until 2009) Works-in-Progress exhibit, Southwark Community Center, last week of October annually, Philadelphia, PA

Group exhibitions

• 2010 Queer Brighton: Molly Landreth & Zoe Strauss, BPB at Lighthouse, Brighton, UK

• 2009 On the Scene: Jason Lazarus, Wolfgang Plöger, Zoe Strauss, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

• 2008 Who's Afraid of America?, Wonderland Art Space, Copenhagen, Dk

• 2008 L’Été photographique de Lectoure 2008, France 2007

• 2008 History Keeps Me Awake at Night: A Genealogy of Wojnarowicz, PPOW Gallery, New York, NY

• 2006 “This Is America,” Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands

• 2006 Summer Vacation: Photographs from the Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

• 2006 Whitney Biennial: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

• 2004 Works on Paper, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA

• 2004 Big Nothing Cabaret, Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA

• 2002 Leeway Award winners group show, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

• 1997 Indianapolis Installation Festival, Whirlforce Medical Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, IN, Juried Exhibition, 3rd in show

Commissions

• 2008 World Class Boxing, (Art Miami)

• 2007 Philadelphia Eagles/Lincoln Financial Field, vinyl print of Mattress Flip

• 2004-2005 St. James collection, 200 photos

Press

• 2007 Roberta Smith, The New York Times review, June 8, 2007. The New Yorker review, June 11 & 18, 2007. The Village Voice review, June 13 – 19, 2007

• 2006 Jean Dykstra, “Out From the Underpass: The Photos of Zoe Strauss” Art On Paper, Sept/Oct 2006. Brian O'Connor, “One to Watch: Zoe Strauss" Photo District News EDU, Fall/Winter 2006. Public Space Issue 1, Cover Photograph. Interview with Katherine Ware, Exposure magazine, Spring 2006. Roberta Fallon, “Ode de Cologne,” Philadelphia Weekly, May 17, 2006, Arts Feature. Roberta Fallon, “Just Whitney,” Philadelphia Weekly, March 29, 2006, Arts Feature. Edward J. Sozanski, " A Noisy Biennial at the Whitney," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 12, 2006, H1. Matt Schwartz, “Local Talent, Zoe Strauss,” Philadelphia Magazine, March 2006. Karen Heller, “Self-educated Photographer Wins Acclaim,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 15, 2006, A1, front page feature with online slide show

• 2005 A.D. Amorosi, “Public Worker,” City Paper, December 15, 2005, Arts Feature

Roberta Fallon, “Candid Camera: South Philly photographer Zoe Strauss seeks out the forgotten," Philadelphia Weekly, April 20, 2005, Arts Feature

• 2004 Adam Fifield , " Exhibit provides a new meaning for 'outsider art'," Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 2004, City and Region, B1. Edward J. Sozanski, " Taking images of the streets back to their birthplace," Philadelphia Inquirer, April 30, 2004, Weekend Section Cover, W25

External links

• Zoe Strauss Official Website
• Whitney Museum of American Art
• Pew Fellowships in the Arts
• Institute of Contemporary Art
• Leeway Foundation
• New York Arts Magazine
• pdnedu; The Magazine for Emerging Photographers and Photo Educators
• Art On Paper Magazine
• New York Times
• Philadelphia City Paper
• Philadelphia Weekly
• Interview with Zoe Strauss on NPR affiliate WHYY:
• Flickr set of Strauss' 2006 I-95 Show
• Zoe Strauss at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY