Laura Pannack
Artist Statement
I specialize in combining my passion for psychology and photography and many of my long term projects particularly focus on youth, love and vulnerability. My approach is to explore the complex relationship between subject and photographer. I am driven by research led, self-initiated projects that push me both as an artist and as an individual. I need to question what I don’t understand and access worlds closed off to me. I am drawn to adventure, I want to roam and play with the limitations and dynamics of photography as an art and as an act. I largely shoot on analogue film allowing the process to be organic rather than being predefined by fixed ideas, thus removing additional pressure on the sitter. I try to understand the lives of those I capture and to present them creatively. I am a firm believer that time, trust and understanding is the key to portraying subjects truthfully, and therefore many of my projects develop over several years. This particular approach allows a genuine connection to exist between sitter and photographer, which in turn elucidate the intimacy of these very human exchanges. My images aim to suggest the shared ideas and experiences that are entwined in each frame that I shoot. My art aims to tell and inspire stories. I want to connect and emotionally engage with you.
‘Laura’s remarkable ability to build trust and respect with her subjects allows her to express a gritty vulnerability that is as sincere as it is elusive to capture.’ Terry O’ Neill – photographer
Bio
Laura Pannack is a London-based, award-winning photographer. Renowned for her recognizable portraiture and social documentary artwork, she often seeks to explore the complex relationship between subject and photographer. Her work heavily focuses on the youth. She was educated at the University of Brighton, Central Saint Martins College of Art and LCP.
Pannack’s work has been extensively exhibited throughout the UK and abroad, including at The National Portrait Gallery, Somerset House, the Royal Festival Hall and the Houses of Parliament.
Driven by research-led, self-initiated projects, Pannack seeks to fully understand the lives of those she captures on film in order to portray them as truthfully as possible. Perceiving “time, trust and understanding” to be the key elements to achieving this, many of her projects develop over several years, helping her achieve a genuine connection between herself and her sitter and allowing her to capture the intimacy, shared ideas and shared experiences of this relationship.
Pannack chooses to shoot with analogue film on her personal projects. By using traditional methods of working from negatives, as well as shooting with Polaroid, she finds beauty in the mistakes that come from working with unpredictable material.
Her artwork has received much acclaim and won numerous awards, among which are the John Kobal Award , Vic Odden prize,World Photo Press Awards and the HSBC Prix de la Photographie prize.
In addition to her own practice, Pannack lectures, critiques and teaches at universities, workshops and festivals around the world, and in 2015, judged the portrait category in World Photo Press Awards in Amsterdam.
Pannack has also been widely published, both commercially and as a photographic artist, with work appearing in The British Journal of Photography, Hotshoe International, TIME, The Guardian Weekend, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Creative Review. Her monograph ‘Against the dying of the light’ was published by Acts de Suds in 2016 and YOUTH Vol 1 was released in 2018 by Polite company