Ep 334: The 40 year self portrait series with guest Nancy Floyd

11 February 2021

Nancy Floyd has been photographing herself since 1982, with the aim of taking a photo a day. The resulting project, comprising over 2500 images, is a study on the passage of time, loss and the ageing female body. Weathering Time is the winner of the inaugural ICP / GOST First Photo Book Award. In this fascinating chat, you’ll discover: the initial thinking behind this project; how Nancy felt when she first viewed the images as a body of work; how to let go of perfection and focus on the long game; how the technical and visual aspects of the project evolved over the years; Nancy’s thought process in setting up the images; the most powerful element is not what we see is there but what’s missing; the ideal final image of the series; and advice to photographers thinking of starting a personal project.

Gina and Valerie hope you enjoy the podcast.

Join the dynamic Gold Membership in our Community which delivers monthly tutorials, live mastermind and lots of behind the scenes videos into the creative process.

Connect with us on Instagram @valeriekhoo @ginamilicia

Click play to listen to the podcast or find it on iTunes here. If you don’t use iTunes you can get the feed here, or listen to us on Stitcher radio.

What was the initial thinking behind this project?
How Nancy felt when she first viewed the images as a body of work.
Letting go of perfection and focussing on the long game
How the technical and visual aspects of the project evolved over the years
Nancy’s thought process in setting up the images
The most powerful element is not what we see is there but what’s missing
What would Nancy’s advice to her 25year old self be?
What would be the ideal final image of the series
Advice to photographers thinking of starting a personal project

Nancy Floyd, “The Month Dad Died, May 2002”

Nancy Floyd has been a visual artist for 40 years. Her research interests include the aging female body, the passage of time, and loss. She uses photography and video to address the ways in which lens-based media can connect deeply with experience and memory.

Floyd has received numerous grants and awards including the 2019 ICP / GOST Books First Photo Book Award (New York, NY and London), a 2018 Aaron Siskind Photography Fellowship (New York, NY), a 2016-17 CUE Art Foundation Fellowship (New York, NY), a 2015-16 Society for Photographic Education Future Focus Project Support Grant (Cleveland, OH), and a 2015 John Gutmann Photography Fellowship Award (San Francisco, CA).

Floyd’s artwork is in the collection of the Center for Creative Photography (Tucson, AZ), the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL), Lightwork (Syracuse, NY), the Joshua Tree Highland Residency Program Collection (Joshua Tree, CA) and in numerous private collections.

Temple University Press published her first book, She’s Got a Gun, in 2008. Her 39 year self-portrait series, Weathering Time, was published by the International Center of Photography and GOST Books in January 2021.

Floyd’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR; CUE Art Foundation, New York, NY; Whitespace, Atlanta, GA; Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA; Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; Solomon Projects, Atlanta; Flux Projects, Atlanta; Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid, Spain; the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; White Columns, New York, NY; and the California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA. Since 2009, her work has been part of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art Archive, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY.

Floyd holds a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, an MA from Columbia College Chicago, and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. She is Emerita Professor in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University in Atlanta and lives in Bend, Oregon.