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Laurel Nakadate

Laurel Nakadate Books

Artist

Laurel Nakadate is an American artist known for her unique photographic style and research into human emotions. Her work often focuses on personal relationships and identity, capturing moments from everyday life to reveal the complexity and fragility of human nature.

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Related Quotes

“In general, I wait to be approached. I want to be the one who's hunted, I want to be the one who people take interest in.”

People Want Waiting Interest Hunted

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I think it's a really good thing to put yourself in a situation where you feel really uncomfortable because I think things can come out of that discomfort.”

Thinking Feels Situation Good Things Uncomfortable Discomfort

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Things might not get better but they might not get worse. There's something sort of beautiful about that.”

Might Beautiful Get Better

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I think my work is optimistic - as much as it is pathetic and funny and sad and ridiculous, at the end of the day it's about the hope that something will go right, and the constant wishing for a world where things might start to make sense.”

Thinking World Ends Might Wish Constant Ridiculous Optimistic Make Sense The End Of The Day Pathetic

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I feel like the men who end up in my videos, their biggest crime is being lonely. They're not violent, they're not scary people, they're just men who keep to themselves and have a hard time being social.”

People Men Feels Ends Hard Social Crime He Man Lonely Scary Violent Video Hard Times Being Lonely Scary People

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“A lot of people think that my work is about mocking or making fun of things, but a lot of it is about discomfort and making myself as uncomfortable as the men feel, or putting myself in a situation where I'm revealing my loneliness as much as they're revealing theirs.”

People Thinking Men Feels Fun Situation Loneliness He Man Uncomfortable Revealing Discomfort

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“A lot of people have said that the main thread in my work is loneliness or just wanting to create a world with someone who doesn't really have much in their life, so maybe I'm looking for someone who's lonely and wants to try to create something with me as a subject for my videos.”

People World Want Trying Said Subjects Loneliness Lonely Video Thread

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“The thing about death is that it's embarrassing. No one wants to focus on it for very long. We're happy to talk about sex all day long but no one wants to talk about the moment where it all ends.”

Want Long Ends Moments Sex Focus Embarrassing

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I find some comfort in running through the worst-case scenario in my mind and seeing how it's all going to go down.”

Mind Running Cases Seeing Worst Comfort Scenarios Worst Case Scenario

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Death is sad, yes, but there are some great laughs you can find there.”

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“It's always a problem - you've got to figure out a place to put your body. You've got to wake up in the morning and deal with the fact that you have this body to lug around.”

Facts Problem Body Deals Morning Figures Wake Up Your Body

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“What I love about photography is that nothing is really as it seems.”

Seems Photography

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Although I use myself in my videos, I really see myself as a character. When I look at myself, when I sit and edit, I never think, "That's me." I think, "This is a character, and how do I edit this to tell a story?"”

Thinking Looks Character Stories Use Video Edits

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I'm more interested in the idea of role-playing in general than the idea of role-playing in art. I like the childlike quality of making pretend or the optimistic idea of pretending something's happening when it's not.”

Art Ideas Quality Roles Happenings Optimistic Pretending Childlike Role Playing

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I believe that I am some sort of fiction writer and I'm using myself in my work because I'm the person I'm most convenient to use!”

Believe Persons Use I Believe Fiction Convenient Fiction Writers

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“As people who make things, we have the ability to think of the most vile, awful things we can imagine, but it doesn't mean we believe those things. I allow myself to go places in my videos that I would never go in my real life.And I think that there has to be that place where you can create and not have to be living it in real life.”

People Thinking Believe Mean Real Ability Imagine Real Life Video Awful

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I'm interested in that hybrid - the place between the real world and my imagination. There's a friction that's created between the things we imagine and the things that exist.”

World Real Imagination Imagine Real World My Imagination Hybrid Friction

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“People want movies to be one thing or another; they want it be fact or fiction.”

People Want Facts Fiction One Thing

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I've always seen my work as trying to make the connection with men who no one really spends time with.”

Men Trying Connections End Times Spend Time

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Sometimes, photographs live in our hearts as unborn ghosts and we survive not because their shadows find permanence there, but because that thing that is larger than us, larger than the things we can point to, remember and claim, escorts us from dark into light.”

Heart Sometimes Light Remember Dark Shadow Claims Photograph Ghost Unborn Permanence

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Although I get a lot of ideas from things that have happened in my life, I see the final product as a place where my imagination meets my experience. What I love about photography is that nothing is really as it seems.”

Ideas Seems Imagination Happened Products Photography Finals My Imagination

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I believe photography is about choosing to live, being brave. Looking is an act of courage. It's terrifying. It's possible to see too much, to witness things that we cannot hold.”

Believe I Believe Too Much Photography Brave Witness Acts Of Courage Choosing To Live

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Photography has saved my life, over and over again.”

Photography Saved

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“[Photography] ties back into this feeling of wanting to watch things fall and the moment before they break. Fireworks are that way for me - this lovely thing that blows up and is gone. It all goes back to this desire to record things before they disappear - the original reason we take pictures, right?”

Way Reason Moments Feelings Desire Fall Watches Break Gone Records Photography Originals Blow Disappear Lovely Ties Fireworks Lovely Things

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Humans like to look. I think that voyeurism and exploitation are often used in the same sentence. But, in my opinion, voyeurism is a beautiful and delightful thing. There is nothing more intimate than really looking at someone.”

Thinking Humans Looks Beautiful Used Opinion Sentences Intimate Exploitation Delightful Delightful Things

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I wanted to tell stories that moved. Nothing stays the same, and that's why photography is important. The world flickers and changes, and that's why video is important.”

World Important Stories Wanted Photography Moved Video Flicker

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“A cupcake is like a great pop song. The whole world in less than three minutes. And it's impossible to have a bad cupcake. In New York you walk everywhere. So I'm always looking, always on the eternal search for the perfect cupcake. I take them very seriously. It's like hunting and gathering for me.”

World Whole Song Three Walks Perfect Impossible Minutes New York Eternal Pops Whole World Hunting Gathering Pop Song Cupcakes

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I shot my undergraduate work on 35mm. I love the way it looks, but I haven't shot film in a while. If you can avoid scanning, it makes your practice faster. Oh, and I shoot a lot of Polaroid, too. I have about five hundred Polaroids from my film that I hope to show soon.”

Ifs Way Looks Shows Film Practice Five Havens Hundred Shots Faster Undergraduate Polaroids Scanning

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Polaroid, you know, goes against everything that photography is now. You can't make multiples. Only one exists. I love that. By the way, while we've been talking I've now seen a total of three people I know walking on 8th street.”

People Knows Way Three Talking Streets Walking Photography Polaroids

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I won't look it in the eye. As soon as I do, I get scared. You gotta walk the plank at some point, but at first you gotta put blinders on or you'll overthink things. I think it's dangerous, by the way, to do a lot of talks about your art, to do so much talking and so little making. You get the wrong idea about yourself.”

Thinking Way Firsts Looks Littles Art Ideas Eye Walks Talking Dangerous Scared About Yourself Blinders Wrong Ideas

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I have very little interest in endlessly telling people about my artistic process. It sounds like throwing yourself against a wall and crying. It's not interesting to most people. It's interesting to yourself. But it's your problem, not anyone else's.”

People Littles Problem Process Sound Interest Interesting Cry Wall Artistic Throwing Artistic Process

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“The amazing thing is that we live our lives with the hope that things will go right, that things will happen. And all along the way, we're inspired by the unknown and the unnameable. The minute you can fully describe something it's gone.”

Way Happens Gone Our Lives Minutes Inspired Amazing Things

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“The most amazing moments are when something horrible is about to happen or has just happened. The iceberg falling into the ocean. That aching moment. You can see the pieces, you can see how they fit together, but you can't put them back together.”

Moments Happens Together Fall Pieces Happened Fit Ocean Horrible Back Together Most Amazing Iceberg

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Also, I'm drawn to moments of ambiguity, when things could go right or they could go wrong. I'm interested in discomfort. Discomfort is a place where we're still close enough to comfort to understand our unhappiness. Most of the things we desire are things that can destroy us.”

Stills Enough Moments Desire Comfort Unhappiness Discomfort Ambiguity

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“The act of looking is brave. Especially if you look at things you can't handle. I think that most people do not look. If you're really paying attention you could have your heart broken twelve times a day. Most of the time we aren't looking.”

People Ifs Thinking Looks Heart Attention Broken Brave Handle Pay Attention Twelve Heart Broke

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I never want to make videos with people who don't want to make them with me. I don't want to force people to take part. Only people who want to collaborate. And that's important because otherwise, the videos wouldn't work. Them choosing to take part is very important to the videos.”

People Want Important Force Video

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I think people like to have everything be perfectly morally clear. When the lines get blurred it worries them. I'm not worried. I don't think the men are either. But I think that the videos bring up feelings in people that they don't want to feel. Sometimes people get really mad. That's okay.”

People Thinking Men Want Feels Sometimes Feelings Lines Worry Clear He Man Okay Mad Video Worried Get Real

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Sometimes it's good to get mad, sometimes it clarifies where we stand. I think that art has the ability to challenge and push, and that's great. That's better than great... it's necessary.”

Thinking Art Sometimes Challenges Ability Mad

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Tenderness and lust are just immature little brothers of love. Yes of course it was lust... but I'm not sure how evolved or resolved that lust was.”

Littles Courses Brother Lust Not Sure Tenderness Immature Little Brother

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I would always say I'm doing a video project. About dancing or birthday parties. Of course, the video becomes more than that. It goes deeper than that. But it's not a lie. It's a starting point.”

Lying Courses Party Projects Dancing Starting Deeper Video Starting Point Birthday Party

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I present the thing we're going to do as a simple starting point. They all know it's an art piece and that it's all going to be recorded. And I have never had an experience where one of these men tried to take advantage of the situation. If they were guilty of anything it was of being lonely. It was never that they were violent or dangerous.”

Ifs Knows Men Art Simple Situation Pieces Dangerous Advantage Lonely Starting Violent Guilty Starting Point Being Lonely

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I'm always afraid going into strange places, but I also choose carefully and listen to my instincts. These were men I could trust. I'm a pretty good judge of crazy versus sad. I prefer sad.”

Men Crazy Strange Judging Instinct Versus Strange Places Good Judges

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Discomfort and awkwardness are places where you feel things. I'm a big advocate for being happy. We can choose to live in a happy bubble. But part of being happy is understanding how sad things can be.”

Feels Bigs Understanding Bubbles Discomfort Awkwardness Sad Things

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I feel like I'm at a place in my life where I'm really strangely happy, and in awe of how great the world can be, and I think that's because I have gone through periods of looking at the world through a really melancholy lenses. It's all just flip sides of the same coin.”

Thinking World Feels Sides Gone Periods Awe Melancholy Coins Lenses Flip

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“There's such an energy created when the world is turned upside down, and when things are good again it's nice to take note. Then it goes away. Change. Change means friction. Friction happens where things aren't quite right, when everything is separating, when nothing is the same. Later you piece it back together.”

World Mean Happens Together Energy Pieces Nice Down And Notes Upside Down Back Together Separating Friction

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Heartbreak is when you're just far enough away from what you desire that you can feel it. Change is the Pangaea moment. I feel like I'm at this point in my life where I have created this place, this island in the ocean, and I'm happy there.”

Feels Enough Moments Desire Ocean Islands

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I think most interesting people are socially awkward even if they're able to hide it most of the time. If Henry Darger hadn't been a shut-in would we love him so much? Any act that we do in private is amazing and profound because it is private. You don't have to worry about being socially awkward in the privacy of your own home... well, unless I show up.”

People Ifs Thinking Wells Shows Home Able Interesting Worry Profound Privacy Awkward Most Interesting Socially Awkward

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“Well, my intention is to make work about being uncomfortable. About being in a world that isn't always the world you want to be part of. I talk a lot about the free fall, the moment in the scene where gravity takes over, and the beautiful awkwardness when gravity wins. Gravity is hilarious. Gravity always wins.”

World Want Wells Moments Beautiful Fall Winning Scene Intention Uncomfortable Gravity Awkwardness

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I think that fact alone levels everything. Slapstick amazes me, the folly of humans today, the Ponzi schemes, giving birth to eight babies at once, it's amazing... And I know, it's horrible to have your money stolen and all that, but those are amazing stories.”

Thinking Knows Giving Humans Facts Stories Today Levels Baby Birth Eight Horrible Folly Schemes Stolen Giving Birth Slapstick Ponzi Scheme

Author:Laurel Nakadate

“I love fiction. I like reading short stories. Cupcakes, pop songs, Polaroids, and short stories. They all raise and answer questions in a short space. I like Lorrie Moore. Amy Hempel. Tim O'Brien. Raymond Carver. All the heartbreakers.”

Heart Stories Song Reading Space Answers Fiction Raises Pops Short Story Amy Pop Song Cupcakes Carver Polaroids Heartbreaker Tim O Brien

Author:Laurel Nakadate

About the Author

Born: December 15, 1975
Known for: Artist
Quotes: 57

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