Getting to Know Elle Schorr

Looking in a window, or walking down a street, we are bombarded with wildly divergent perceptions of reality. Past and present, shadow and light, nature and artifact, inside and out, above and below battle against each other for our attention. The images compete, sometimes silently, at other times noisily. They come from different decades, different centuries, and different ways of life. Sometimes, the images are not only fleeting in our perception, but in real time, as the old gets torn down, and is replaced by the new, newer, and newest. As we move through our environment, we learn to focus.

I’ve lived in South Florida for more than ten years, and return to New York when I can. I feel like a lucky traveler who has been gifted with the time to stay or go, to look, and to explore. I consciously seek out the cacophony of cultures, life styles, and times in our lives seen on city streets, but also take time to wander in natural areas, responding to special moments of magic when they occur.

Some of my images appear to be photo collages or photo montages, but they are, in fact, single photographic images. Others are more direct in their approach, but still contain unexpected bits of information or moments that would otherwise pass us by. All explore the dualities, the multiple and often incongruous impressions that bombard us, ever changing and in transition, a mix of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.