At first glance, her images could be posters taken from somewhere in the 2000s, bursting with vibrant colors and captivating strangeness. But Gillian Laub's photography goes far beyond her singular aesthetic; she seeks to represent the human experience in all its facets, finding the extraordinary in the mundane, intimacy in the everyday and tension in proximity.
At first glance, her images could be posters taken from somewhere in the 2000s, bursting with vibrant colors and captivating strangeness. But Gillian Laub's photography goes far beyond her singular aesthetic; she seeks to represent the human experience in all its facets, finding the extraordinary in the mundane, intimacy in the everyday and tension in proximity.

On her sixth birthday, her grandfather gave her a Polaroid and the first clicks sparked a passion that would last forever. Today, the American Gillian Laub has published several books and is widely recognized for her work, which focuses on family issues, race, identity, or human rights. She says her goal is not to change anyone, but to create empathy and understanding among those who don't share the same views - and it all starts within her family. Through unique storytelling, each of her images carries a huge sense of presence, making us feel that we too could have been on this side of the lens, observing everything firsthand.
Your aesthetic is unique and special, very quaint and pop at the same time. How did you achieve this style? I have been so influenced by my family and their aesthetic which has always been very vibrant and alive. I have always been fascinated by colours, clothes, how we present ourselves and our homes. It always felt like a stage set for me to make photographs. Every detail in the frame tells a story and has meaning to me. When I look at my earliest Polaroids, they have a similar aesthetic to my recent photographs.
There is great intimacy and tension in your images. How do you create this dynamic? I think a successful image is when many layers exist simultaneously. I am taking what is already there and working with it...almost like choreographing a scene. Nuance and detail make all the difference. I take many frames of the moment and then the editing becomes a big part of the process. Finding the image that holds many things at once, in one frame, is what I am looking to accomplish in capturing an image.
This issue of Vogue Portugal is called The Unpopular Issue, and your photography certainly portrays unpopular subjects. How did your interest in these subjects come about? I’m not ever really concerned with what is considered popular or not. My work has always been where I explore what it means to be human. I am very attracted to cultural tensions and family narratives. I am always looking for what connects us. Recently politics has divided us in a way that became very personal to me and that is reflected in my work.
You mentioned earlier that you had started to feel some discomfort about yourself and your upbringing, but it all intensified when your family started being supportive of Donald Trump....My family became Trump supporters in 2016 and I used my photographs from decades before to really trace back and deconstruct how we got to this place. What I discovered was a visual record of the American Dream. It enabled me to see the larger narrative and what it meant culturally. So many years I spent trying to understand other people's stories and narratives through my camera and now I was forced to challenge myself in a very uncomfortable way and take a hard look inward.
Are you hoping to change opinions and views with your photos? What kind of impact do you intend to have on your audience? One can only hope their work will make an impact! In all of my projects I do have hope that the work will help create a dialogue and lead to a better understanding...in a way, be a bridge builder. The work I did in the Middle East was an attempt to help people who were at war with each other (Israeli’s and Palestinians) see the other as a human with the same wants and needs as opposed to being just the enemy. One of the most fulfilling moments in the Southern Rites project was when the photographs and interviews I made of a community holding racially segregated high school prom dances were forced to integrate after the story garnered national attention and outrage. When [the series] Family Matters exhibited at the International Center of Photography, I witnessed a father and son who hadn’t talked in a few years because of political tensions come out of the exhibition crying and talking about how this really resonated with them. I was incredibly worried sharing something so personal, but I also knew that this was a story so many people were also experiencing and not able to talk about so I put it out with the hope that sharing this complicated and oftentimes painful experience could open the door for others to also connect to and help share theirs. The most fulfilling part of this has been how many people have reached out to let me know how it did indeed help them. The goal isn’t to change anyone or their opinions, but to hopefully have a bit more empathy and understanding of people who don’t share your exact opinions or views.
How has your relationship with your family changed since you started photographing them? My biggest fear was that this would tear my family apart and my biggest hope was that it could help us. I have so much gratitude that my family trusted me and allowed me to process everything through this project. I think when they sat down and read the book, they understood me better than they ever had and could appreciate the honesty and vulnerability in it, so it helped open them up. It has been very healing for me. There were difficult moments, but they were met with respect and honesty and thoughtfulness which is why I spent so much time working on this privately before I shared it. It was all very conscious made with the intention of opening dialogue, not shutting it down with judgment. We have all grown from it thankfully.
Translated from the original on The [Un]Popular Issue, published July 2023.Full stories and credits on the print issue.
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