Reagan Ryder

Reagan Ryder is an artist located in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA. Her practice is rooted in self-portraiture and she uses photography as a basis, adding textures and materials to the work both before and after shooting. We spoke during the quarantine that came about as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. 

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m working on a photographic series that includes elements of sculpture, collage and drawing, but mainly uses sculpture. I’m working through the lens to capture the sculpture as it builds and deconstructs over time, using this method as a way to mirror my body and spirit and how those parts of me naturally – sometimes forcefully – go through many internal and external changes. It didn’t begin as a quarantine piece, but it’s becoming more about quarantine and how I am changing in all this weirdness.

Where do you begin a work like this?

I start in my sketchbook. At the sketchbook stage, I am thinking about colour, composition and symbolism, and thinking about what I will see through the lens. But it never fully makes sense until you start building it, with something like this. I always think it will be one thing, and it never is. It’s always a surprise. But I think if I had a clear idea of what it would look like that would be more like doing a job. As it is, it’s more creative. 

I like how at the end of the process you are left with all the stages, when you photograph. I can go back in time and take elements from the beginning, because they’re not lost. They still exist. But the end product is unique. I quite intentionally add hand made elements to each piece after the photo is produced because I don't always want a result that can be reproduced or reprinted. 

That's why I start in my sketchbook, because then I'm working with the beginnings of the idea hands on.

And when you get to the frame are you usually looking for something in particular?

It’s hard to say. I almost always sketch with a frame in mind or actually drawn on the paper. I think the reason I keep the frame as my reference is because it eliminates distractions, and it eliminates the space beyond. I compose too, I’m looking at lines and shapes – and I think that’s about exclusion. I see the positive and negative space and then I start thinking about where to place things. 

Placing the objects becomes a kind of dialogue between me and what I’m making. It’s like painting in a way. I work on one area, then another, and then I keep working my way around the frame.

How do you decide what to place?

I rarely go out and buy something especially, unless I know exactly what a piece needs. More often they are things that are already in my life. Something that says something about me. I love how living things change, and if they’re not living they are things that I understand. I suppose I need both.

What’s your experience of being an artist who also has a day job?

I like that you framed it that way, that I am an artist first, because I consider myself an artist first but most people assume that art is a side hobby. And people are less likely to take your art seriously if they think it's a hobby.

I balance my time well between the two, I think, and I work as much as I need to. One downside of my job is that it doesn’t pay much, but it does require a lot of time and passion. I’d love to put more energy from that job into my art, but overall I’m grateful to have a day job. My particular day job is useful too, because it helps me with my form. I’m a self-portrait artist and I take photos of my form and use my body, so in that respect being a gymnastics coach helps.

And, of course, you get paid.

Right. I would love financial freedom, obviously, but I don’t need it to be successful. I think the work speaks for itself if you put energy into it.

How has the quarantine affected your practice?

There have been some positives. The time and space to think and create, and to focus on my identity as an artist. The negatives are that I find myself now with limited space and limited materials. I don’t have a studio full of stuff, only the things I’ve had at home, and so I realise that at some point I will run out. I often go outside to shoot, so I miss that. But it’s meant that I have had to find more creative ways of lighting things. I can’t rent lighting gear either. I suppose you do what you can with what you have, and that’s a great way to learn. 

You seem very open to that, more than some others might be.

Yes, I am pretty fluid. But maybe that’s because I don’t feel I know I'm always ready to learn from limitations and unexpected changes.

Your work is always recognisable as yours though.

That’s true, I have a strong aesthetic but I think that happens because my work is always, in some way, a self portrait.

What else (other than getting back to normal art practice) are you looking forward to when the quarantine is over?

I’m excited to go to the art store. I can't wait to buy tons of glue! And to go back to work, just have the freedom to go wherever I want. I’d planned a family trip that had to be cancelled as it’s out of state. And I want to see artists in person again, to pick up on left conversations and collaborations. 

See more of Reagan’s work on instagram instagram.com/reagan_ryder_photography/