Preview: Katy Grannan in Season 9 of Art21 "Art in the Twenty-First Century" (2018)

[KATY GRANNAN]
I think often there might be a perception
that the artist is the author,

when in fact it is so much more collaborative--

when in fact people have very strong ideas.

In particular, when I met Nicole
and started photographing Nicole,

she was the most fun,
the most challenging.

At one point we'd been
photographing for a while--

we're very close--

and she said, "You know..."

"I just think your pictures are
a little weird, a little boring."

"Can we make some real pictures?"

And I said, "Well, yeah!"

"I'll just lock off the frame,
and do whatever you want."

She got naked and was imitating
these provocative poses,

but then almost doing violence to them.

There was a desire to have some of that glamour--
or sex appeal or whatever--

and then she rejected it at the same time.

I thought, this is closer to what I feel as
a woman.