Tatiana Wills: Aspiration / Inspiration

Aspiration / Inspiration

“My work celebrates a personal connection with the independent spirit of the artist, particularly those involved in the creation of new and exciting movements in culture. Recently I set out to explore a long held appreciation of dance performance through portraiture. The ongoing series features classical and contemporary dancers, choreographers, and their mentors. Begun in 2010, this project is inspired by my relationship with a young, aspiring dancer and the beauty in the world she reminds me still exists.”

Tatiana Wills photographs the face of modern culture. She has created portraits of hundreds of highly accomplished American and international artists, dancers and pop culture icons. Her unique sensibility has won honors from Communication Arts, International Photography Awards, and PDN and her work has appeared in Time, GQ, HiFructose and IdN, as well as on the silver screen in Banksy’s street art film, Exit Throught the Gift Shop. In 2011 Tatiana celebrated the release of her book Heroes & Villains : Portraits of Contemporary Artists, the result of a six year collaboration with co-photographer Roman Cho. Wills lives in Oregon and works out of her studio in Portland’s historic Seed Building. Currently Tatiana is developing her latest project about contemporary dancers in the Northwest and beyond.