LA-based artist Tatiana Wills used to work for a top entertainment ad agency seeking out underground artists for guerrilla campaigns. Now, her work reexamines the portrait as a mode for more immediacy, inclusion, and self-representation. Wills photographs other creatives across a variety of fields (right now focusing on the dance world and her own daughter, a ballerina) and portrays them outside of their usual contexts. The result is a body of photographic work that is as much about the true personalities of creatives as it is about democratizing photography’s subject matter.
Josie Moseley
Name : Tatiana Wills @tcwills
Birthplace : Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Kyle Abraham
Métier : Artist and photographer
Where do you live? Venice, California, USA
Samantha Figgins
Patricia Zhou
What is your favorite part of being there? The proximity to seeing work by living artists while also living near the ocean.
Sources of inspiration : Fashion is probably my biggest source. Not trends, per se, but I enjoy visiting small, locally-owned boutiques, vintage shops, and random pop up flea markets. I love to browse google images for no reason except to search for whatever pops into my head. Album cover art. My collection of art and architecture books.
Micaela Taylor
Sources of motivation : I’m highly motivated to prevent my kids from thinking I suck.
What makes you happy : Doing my work, attending daily ballet classes, watching my children grow up.
Kyle Abraham
Favorite subject to photograph / paint : That’s easy: my daughter, who is a professional ballet dancer.
Favorite reads : Biographies, although, I must admit, I like the film versions best.
Lily Wills
Favorite tunes : Anything I can sing the words to, even if I hate the music. In the studio, I usually play what reflects my mood or the work I’m doing. Symphonies are my go-to for retouching. I can tell a lot about what I did last week by my Spotify:
Favorite foods : Seafood, or any food I’m eating by the ocean, preferably in a boat, in Spain.
Beauty tips : Never ever pluck your eyebrows.
Lily Wills
Favorite ways to unwind : Experimenting in the kitchen with whatever’s in the fridge, drinking while cooking.
What gets you in a working flow : Pulling up to my studio, opening the doors to let in the breeze, the sound of seagulls and small aircraft buzzing around (my studio is in a small airport in Santa Monica).
Rachel Tess
What are you working on now : I just finished two shoots for LALA Magazine, collaborated with a women-owned, sustainable clothing brand in the UK, called Smalls Merino. I’m also preparing for Art Miami in November, and I’m always looking for a good place to wheat paste my photos.
Favorite motto / quote : Black lives matter.
Chalvar Monteir
For more go to www.tatianawills.com