February 2020 Artist in Residency: Zoe Rain
Cutting her teeth as Macklemore’s full-time tour photographer, Zoe has since worked with some of the world’s largest artists: Chance The Rapper, Ed Sheeran, Kesha, and Vic Mensa.
Zoe’s evocative, intimate style gained quick notoriety featuring her work in publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine, Vanity Fair, MTV and The New York Times. Zoe’s high-impact photography and creative direction has been leveraged by brands such as Nike, Wolverine Boots, Swisher Sweets, Headspace and Redbull.
Controlled under pressure, Zoe‘s ease and adaptability constructs effective, defining imagery.
Q & A
Q&A with Zoe Rain, interviewed by Lucy McDonald
You have a lot of experience as a portrait photographer. How do you go about connecting with your subject in order to capture such striking images?
I usually have a limited amount of time or familiarity with my subjects, so I don’t have a chance to warm them up to me before we shoot. I have learned to keep people out of their heads anyway I can, by providing constant direction to keep their mind and body engaged (even if it is simply having them look to the right and left, or take a few steps in a direction. I don’t like there to be a lot of downtime for them to get in their heads or worry about how they look. Keeping things flowing and natural always brings out genuine moments.
Zoe Rain, Chance, 2018
You’ve mentioned that your love of movies has influenced the way you approach storytelling in your work. What are some of your favorite movies and how have they influenced your style as a photographer?
I have always been very enchanted and moved in the way video conveys a character or symbolic message. My attraction has a wide range of creative styles, whether it’s the gloomy atmosphere of Fight Club & The Joker, or the polished and perfectly patterned scenes in a Wes Anderson film. My work has a clean polished look, with aspects of grit that encompass the styles in cinema I have gravitated towards.
Zoe Rain, Yuan, 2019
You moved to Chicago when you were 22. How have the diverse communities in the city influenced you and your work?
Coming from Seattle’s rich grunge music history, I was lucky to be surrounded by a collaborative artist community, but it was a heavily white dominated scene, with far less POC representation in the city as a whole. Moving to Chicago was a huge shift in the demographic, which brought a wave of artists who were far more politically impacted, informed and motivated to bring about change in their neighborhoods. There is a depth and passion in Chicago that is unlike anything I had grown up around in Seattle.
One of LATITUDE’s core values is easy access to education. What are you most excited to learn more about during your residency at LATITUDE?
I have done very little work with printing, mostly because I didn’t have a firm grasp on where to start or how to learn. I am excited overall in experimenting with different inks and papers to bring my images to life in a tactile way.
Zoe Rain, Brandon, 2015
You travel a lot for work. What is your favorite way to deal with jet lag?
When traveling domestically, I am a huge fan of Red Eye flights. I have trained myself to sleep immediately on an airplane, which helps me keep up on sleep, and makes flights less cumbersome to my schedule. I am guessing this has to do with when I am on tour with a band, we travel on a bus, which drives us from city to city overnight. As far as international flights, I try to acclimate to the local time as fast as possible, sometimes with the aid of coffee or sleeping pills depending on when I should be awake or asleep.
What are you currently reading, watching, or listening to that we should check out?
I’ve been reading a ton of books this year; nonfiction is my favorite. Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari was my favorite hands down. It is incredibly informative, yet written in an approachable way that is easy to follow. Another incredible book I couldn’t put down was Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire by Eric N Berkowitz. Basically, the same concept as the first, but related to the insane laws surrounding (mostly women and gay men) being chastized for what is now normalized and encouraged in our modern day society.
Zoe Rain, Women of Togo, 2017