Curating, in the modern sense, is something I gravitate to. Taking different ideas from a bunch of different places and putting them into one place or space, a story that makes sense or a new idea. Everything is remixed and taken from other things to make something new.

Petra Collins

Space Very UN

Success doesn't happen overnight.

Petra Collins

Success T Pen

I've always been fascinated by the desert.

Petra Collins

Ways Way Ted

I'm used to seeing women being degraded, slut shamed, harassed for what they look like. Even the most powerful women in the world are measured by their appearance and constantly ridiculed for it.

Petra Collins

Women Power Men

Hashtag activism is a catalyst, but things have to actually happen in real life.

Petra Collins

Life Things Thing

We work to create a new wave of feminism that is more inclusive. I want others to feel equal. It's so great to see women in positions of power, which is why other artists, such as Marilyn Minter, are so inspirational to me.

Petra Collins

Work Women Power

I think it's important for not just me but women of color, trans women, and people who are marginalized to be telling stories of themselves. It's important for us to be behind the lens.

Petra Collins

Women Men Who

My favorite place to go is Zabriskie Point in Death Valley. If you see it at sunrise and sunset, it's like you're on Mars.

Petra Collins

Death You Valley

For me, art doesn't stop at the gallery space.

Petra Collins

Space Art Top

I'm either working or I'm lying in bed the entire day.

Petra Collins

Work Yin Working

People look the best when they feel the most comfortable, so I buy 10 of the same thing if I really like it.

Petra Collins

Thing Thin Table

It's hard for every girl to accept their body. This is something that I try to work on every day to set a good example.

Petra Collins

Work Good Very

I remember being 12 or 13 and reading 'Seventeen' and 'CosmoGirl.' They were all about self-improvement.

Petra Collins

Teen Men Were

Women are inherently told their bodies are objects, so that's how we treat them.

Petra Collins

Women Men Women Are

I don't know what I would've done without it. I really struggled in school with reading and writing. Art was my refuge - my way of speaking, of dealing with my own issues and connecting with the world.

Petra Collins

Art Writing Would

I came to New York with no money and just one suitcase. I had my family's emotional support, but they weren't able to help me financially.

Petra Collins

Money Family York

The selfie is revolutionary to me. It is, I think, the only point in history where masses of young girls and women have been able to control, create, and publish images of themselves.

Petra Collins

Women Men History

I know having a social media profile removed is a 21st century privileged problem - but it is the way a lot of us live. These profiles mimic our physical selves and a lot of the time are even more important. They are ways to connect with an audience, to start discussion, and to create change.

Petra Collins

Time Change Art

My mind is changing all the time. I can't live in a space that has a fixed aesthetic. I just need a blank slate when I come home.

Petra Collins

Time Space Home

People are always like, 'Did you purposely do something to make people uncomfortable?' And I say the reason why it's uncomfortable is because it's either something that we can't talk about or aren't supposed to talk about, and they're images that aren't ever seen.

Petra Collins

Age You Why

When you see stories about women that aren't being told by women, it can make you feel like you don't exist.

Petra Collins

Women Men You

My lens and my personality, it's just fluid. The art isn't just in one place.

Petra Collins

There's definitely a romanticism of youth, like, everywhere. Specifically with women, they kind of only exist between the age of 15 to 25.

Petra Collins

I didn't really have an identity crisis because I really, really knew who I always wanted to be But I definitely had a lot of problems with my body. I was very skinny, and I guess my body was sort of pre-pubescent, but when I grew hips and thighs, I just didn't know where I was in the world. It was weird.

Petra Collins

Feminism is a lens I see the world through and what I believe in. I don't ever use it as a tool of promotion.

Petra Collins

I think the gender norms of emotion are horrendous. Being masculine means showing zero emotions, but having the choice to be angry or depressed. Being female means you are one dimensional - if you show more than that, you are a psycho, hysterical, or historically, a witch.

Petra Collins

When I was growing up, my parents would apologize when we didn't have enough money for something. I'd always tell them that it was O.K. and that I had learned to work hard because of them.

Petra Collins

When I was 16, I created this online platform for female artists. I messaged women who I loved; that's how I got work and connected with people. You don't need to plead for entry into a system that doesn't want you anyway.

Petra Collins

I'm used to being told by society that I must regulate my body to fit the norm. I'm used to the fact that images of unaltered women are seen as unacceptable.

Petra Collins

I think anytime you can share images that make young women feel a sense of belonging when they might not be feeling their best or their strongest is so cool.

Petra Collins

Live what you support online; do things.

Petra Collins

I'm very lucky that I'm not a photographer for hire - people hire me for me. I go into every commercial work with an art focus, with that lens; every brand I've worked for just lets me do whatever I want to do. I have full creative freedom.

Petra Collins

If your story is being told by someone who doesn't really know it, it's not going to come out accurate. A lot of it has to do with context. Whoever's behind the camera or pen or whatever.

Petra Collins

Curating, in the modern sense, is something I gravitate to. Taking different ideas from a bunch of different places and putting them into one place or space, a story that makes sense or a new idea. Everything is remixed and taken from other things to make something new.

Petra Collins

My mother struggled immensely with mental illness, and so did I. She grew up bipolar, but it was never diagnosed nor recognized. It was shrugged off like a 'symptom' of being female - of her being weak. I also experienced this growing up: I felt that the great pain I experienced was a dramatisation.

Petra Collins

As a young woman, I was disturbed by the fact that there was no imagery that truly expressed the experience of a young woman and the challenges and turbulence we go through. All we had were teenage magazines like 'Cosmopolitan,' which are very one-sided and show an objectified view of women.

Petra Collins

I approach beauty the same way I approach clothing - I think people should do whatever to themselves to make them feel more comfortable in their skin.

Petra Collins

I was depressed at a very young age - mental illness runs in my family, especially on the female side.

Petra Collins

I'm definitely a Sagittarius. I'm such a fire sign.

Petra Collins

Women's emotions are constantly labeled. Any slight deviation from 'pleasantness,' and we are labeled as hysterical. When we are angry, sad, depressed, or manic, we are immediately seen as unfeminine or ugly or weak.

Petra Collins

It's so rare to see a woman lose control and also gain it back. Women are always told, 'Oh, be in control of your feelings,' and a woman is never allowed to express her anger without being demonised as being PMS-y.

Petra Collins

My mom had been a script supervisor in Hungary, but you can't just jump into that in Canada without knowing any English. She worked retail jobs and raised my sister and me while learning English.

Petra Collins

It's very insulting when you're in charge and someone is talking down to you.

Petra Collins

I was very depressed at a young age and felt like I didn't have agency towards that. Being 'female' meant I couldn't be that - I couldn't be angry, loud, sullen. Being sad meant I was weak.

Petra Collins

I want to direct a feature film. Horror is my main genre.

Petra Collins

Oh my God. Brian De Palma. I love him.

Petra Collins

I consider myself endlessly lucky to have access to the Internet and technology. Through it, I've found myself and have been able to join a new discourse of females, young and old, who strive to change the way we look and treat ourselves.

Petra Collins

Being taken seriously as a young woman is the biggest hurdle as I grow older.

Petra Collins

Social media has been such a big important thing for young artists and minorities because it's a community to get noticed. It's having an audience that was never there before.

Petra Collins

That's what I look for in models: Someone who can tell a story and has a presence in front of the camera.

Petra Collins

Occasionally, I'll wear glitter or blue eye shadow.

Petra Collins