Zoe Leonard Quotes

Progress is always an exchange. We gain something, we give something else up. I'm interested in looking at some of what we are losing.

What I've always liked about photography is that it's such a direct way of showing what's on my mind. I see something. I show it to you.

I'll finish a body of work and think, "Okay, I got nothing. That was it. I'm done." And then you'll turn a corner and be like, "Oh my God!" And it keeps happening. I feel so lucky.

I've been taking pictures since I was probably 16. I'm 54, and I can't believe how excited I am.

I'm always learning. I can't imagine doing anything else.

I really loved music and went to a lot of clubs to see bands and dance. I loved going out.

I don't think any of us thought Donald Trump could get this far.

There's a lot of psychological material that you inherit from your family.

By nature, I'm a little distractible. I get very overwhelmed by the world.

There's a desire for me in the work, even when I'm looking at the past, to be looking from the present. It's to be here now. It's looking in the present tense.

I don't quite understand how a generation and a half after the Second World War we've gotten where we are now.

I was really poor for most of my adult life.

I'm always amazed at how people make work no matter how intense the pressure.

I'd grown up poor; I had no idea what it was like to be comfortable.

If the work is the horse, a career makes a great cart.

I think making things that appear simple is incredibly hard.

When people look at a photograph, they believe it... My photographs crawl along that edge. I document the world, but from my own biased point of view.

I like getting stuff out of the way so you can see something clearly, see it sharply, have it be new again.

The world feels overwhelming to me on every level. Just the number of organisms that live on this planet. Our politics, our violence, psychology, emotions; there's just a lot going on, right?

I choose to work behind the camera. And I kind of want to make the work and then run away. The presentation of myself really feels complicated for me.

You need to have your eyes open because it's really scary what's happening.

I never heard the term "art world" until I was in my thirties, and I was like, "What are you guys talking about?" It's the world, and we all live in the world!

I'm in all of my work, and there's nowhere to hide when you make work.