Patricia Fortlage

Artist Statement

Patricia Fortlage is an award-winning photographic long-form storyteller and fine art photographer. From her core belief that if you invest in women and girls, entire communities will be raised, Patricia has focused much of her documentary career working with organizations doing just that.

From her powerful piece covering the female-led Othakarhaka Foundation in Southern Malawi to the stereotype breaking, female empowering Wonder, girl! Project, to an ongoing project depicting the often life-long after-effects of sexual assault on women, Patricia has promoted female empowerment one project at a time. She’s documented conditions and shared stories of struggle and success, helped to promote tourism in the poorest of nations, and overall, devoted her artistic work to furthering community development.

She began her career by studying a degree in political science; however, she changed her focus to photography when she realized that change can also be affected through this medium. Her contributions in humanitarian aid and photography have taken her to over 50 countries, witnessing extreme poverty, unthinkable disease, violence, and destruction of life. She has also experienced beauty of spirit, resilience, optimism, and a human kindness that knows no boundaries or borders. This beauty has inspired her to relay those stories.

Patricia learned a lot during her work overseas. She learned that no matter where one lives, everyone is doing the very best that they can, and that most welcome support and ideas and collaborations where they can find them. She learned about the generosity of others, especially those in the medical profession, who give of their time and skills freely and fervently to save lives. She learned that her documentary skills as a photographer, while honed, paled in comparison to the real life-saving work performed by locals and foreigners united by shared visions. She is humbled to have partnered on this treasured work.

Patricia also learned that in addition to love, food, and health, art is sustenance. In so many cultures, art is revered… it is savored. Whether that art be music, paintings, weavings, sculpture, photography… the list goes on… art is contentment for the soul, it inspires change, it brings joy. This has led to an alchemy of her own work, transitioning more towards fine art photography in recent years.

To Patricia, fine art means seeing with imagination, creating her own artistic interpretations of the world around her. Her goal is to create art that moves people. Although Patricia’s work is highly realistic, it also evokes a quality that is both intense and dream-like. The reason? She wants the viewer to have an immediate emotional reaction to her images, as opposed to an intellectual reaction. Her hope is that instead of having an opinion or beginning to assess her work as art, they will instead have a heart moment, one that will move them and inspire them in how they themselves move in the world. While Patricia works within all color palettes, she prefers black and white. Simply put, there are times when she feels color is distracting… and the story itself is just too important for distractions.

Patricia also wants the viewer to feel like the scene envelopes them, that all of a sudden, the scene has become all around them. She tries to accomplish this with light and luminance. She pushes and pulls the scene to create the enveloping process. She hopes to sometimes educate and inspire with her art, sometimes shock and surprise, sometimes entertain, and hopefully often, bring joy. Her work has been published nationally and she has widely exhibited in solo and juried exhibits across the USA.

https://www.patriciafortlage.com/

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