Portrait As Partnership

Born in New York City in 1963, Schorr studied journalism at the School of Visual Arts, a background that continues to inform her observational rigor and narrative curiosity. She began her career as photographer in 1986, initially gaining recognition for work that challenged conventional representations of gender and sexuality. Drawing inspiration from a diverse array of sources—ranging from August Sander’s typological portraits to the romanticism of 1970s fashion editorials—Schorr developed a visual language that is both intimate and disorienting, often working with recurring subjects over long periods of time.

In addition to her editorial work for publications like i-D, Purple, Interview, and The New York Times Magazine, Schorr has created critically acclaimed campaigns for brands including Saint Laurent, Dior, and Miu Miu. Yet her practice has remained deeply rooted in the art world. Her photographs have been exhibited at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and Tate Modern, and published in several monographs, including Forests and Fields (2001), 8 Women (2014), and Pauls’ Book (2019) .

Here, we catch up with the acclaimed image-maker who recently photographed the campaign for the John & Yoko by JMM collection. (She’s also shot campaigns for the brand’s Johnny Cash, Stanley Kubrick, and Velvet Underground partnerships, among others) We discuss her creative rituals, personal obsessions, and the emotional architecture of image-making, gleaning insights into the tension, vulnerability, and vision required to follow one’s art.

Jacques Marie Mage (JMM): You’ve lived and worked in many places around the world. How does a sense of place influence your creative practice, if at all?

Collier Schorr (CS): I’ve mainly lived in New York City and a small town in Germany, so really polar opposites. I think New York raised me and I could understand who I was by being someplace like Germany where everything about me was unfamiliar. So maybe comfort and discomfort both activate a creative response. 

JMM: You've said before that you love certain cities at certain times. Which is presently your favorite city or cities, and what are the qualities that make them special?

CS: I went to Tokyo in the winter and fell in love again with that city. It was a short trip but I felt such a sense of beauty and privacy. I think that’s the thing I love about Japan, which may be particular to me. I like not knowing or understanding and relying on my senses. 

JMM: Can you describe an encounter with an artist's work that influenced your artistic path or process?

CS: As everyone knows who knows anything about me Richard Prince and Fran Lebowitz were probably the loudest voices in my head. When I saw the author's portrait on the back of Metropolitan Life ( Fran) I knew I had a chance in this life, in this city. She is sitting underneath a plaque at the Met that says “Author.” And she is wearing great clothes, similar to what I was wearing. Richard, he was the star of the conceptual photo artworld in ‘80s New York, and I met him because he wanted to meet me, because he heard I was obsessed with Fran Lebowitz! So it’s all related.

JMM: Can you describe the concept for the campaign you photographed for the John & Yoko by JMM collection?

CS: I believe the idea came first from their son Sean—to feature couples that came from different cultures. It was so much more inspiring than trying to capture the impossible chemistry of John and Yoko. 

JMM: What is your relationship to John & Yoko’s music? Do you have a favorite song/album/period from their oeuvre?

CS: I have always loved Yoko. George was my favorite Beatle but Yoko brought me closer to John. I think Yoko was a flag for women—a strong artist who did not shape-shift to meet societal pressures. She was a radical partner and I always found her independence reassuring. We were really fed a lot of racist, misogynist propaganda [about them] but you could see in their postures that they understood that they were separate people.

JMM: What are your thoughts on John and Yoko's final album, Double Fantasy?

I love it. I love the familiarity of his voice and the newness of hers. 

JMM: What song would you choose to dance to at 5 in the morning?

Larry Heard, “The Sun Can’t Compare”

JMM: Which one piece of art, anywhere in the world, would you adamantly suggest someone see?

CS: Je Tu Il Elle (1974), by Chantal Akerman.

JMM: What advice would you give a photographer at the beginning of their career? 

CS: Attempt to think of it as not a career. Pretend a career is a lofty idea. And just really want to do it to do it. To say what you need to say. No matter what. 

JMM: What new projects are you presently working on? Are there any exhibits, editorials, etc that we can look forward to?

CS: I’m in a show at The International Center of Photography in January called Hard Copy. It’s all large format xeroxes. And I seem to be thinking about doing a show in Paris in the new year.

JMM: What do you look forward to doing in the new year?

CS: Going to Iceland!