Success doesn't happen overnight.
Petra Collins
I've always been fascinated by the desert.
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.
Hashtag activism is a catalyst, but things have to actually happen in real life.
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.
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.
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.
For me, art doesn't stop at the gallery space.
I'm either working or I'm lying in bed the entire day.
People look the best when they feel the most comfortable, so I buy 10 of the same thing if I really like it.
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.
I remember being 12 or 13 and reading 'Seventeen' and 'CosmoGirl.' They were all about self-improvement.
Women are inherently told their bodies are objects, so that's how we treat them.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
When you see stories about women that aren't being told by women, it can make you feel like you don't exist.
My lens and my personality, it's just fluid. The art isn't just in one place.
There's definitely a romanticism of youth, like, everywhere. Specifically with women, they kind of only exist between the age of 15 to 25.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Live what you support online; do things.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I was depressed at a very young age - mental illness runs in my family, especially on the female side.
I'm definitely a Sagittarius. I'm such a fire sign.
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.
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.
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.
It's very insulting when you're in charge and someone is talking down to you.
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.
I want to direct a feature film. Horror is my main genre.
Oh my God. Brian De Palma. I love him.
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.
Being taken seriously as a young woman is the biggest hurdle as I grow older.
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.
That's what I look for in models: Someone who can tell a story and has a presence in front of the camera.
Occasionally, I'll wear glitter or blue eye shadow.
