The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this newly revised thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Today’s Featured Artist: Sasha Nialla
ARTIST STATEMENT
In partnership with The 3% Conference and Jack Morton Worldwide, I photographed a series of female leaders in the advertising world. Before The 3% Conference, started by Kat Gordon in 2012, only 3% of all U.S. Creative Directors were women. Since the inception of the conference, the number of female Creative Directors has grown to 11%.
Women continue to play a role in the world’s culture, there needs to be a call for gender-balanced leadership with women’s and men’s contributions valued equally.
Through my photographic series entitled Female Creatives Sitting for Change: Portraits Highlighting Women of The 3% Conference, my goal is to highlight some of the powerful women in the advertising world and challenge conscious and unconscious bias. The series emphasizes the women’s strength and beauty with the use of dramatic lighting and a minimal setting. With this technique, the viewer is forced to see the women’s femininity and power without distractions. I approach all portrait shoots in the same manner. I spend time getting to know the sitters, I ask them questions and connect with them. Only with their trust, I am able to show their vulnerabilities and strengths. Although there has been progress in society’s thoughts about women’s equality, women still are not present in equal numbers in business today.
SASHA NIALLA BIO
Sasha Nialla was raised in California and spent the last 17 years in New York City. As a photographer for 11 years, Ms. Nialla has been continuously getting involved in photography projects that bring awareness to different causes and life experiences, including; children with HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Iraq war survivors and many more. All these projects have resulted in supporting vulnerable groups and people, and those not exposed to these situations in their everyday lives. Highlights include multiple billboards in Times Square for Bideawee, standees of breast cancer survivors with NFL players in Kroger supermarkets and on PepsiCo and Gatorade packaging, a photo exhibition of women immigrants with New Women New Yorkers and a photo exhibition of cancer survivors in the NYU Medical Centerart gallery.
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid-80s. After establishing the art buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease.