Wendy Ploger

Brooklyn-based photographer Wendy Ploger is interested in exploring her life as it has unfolded in recent years. This project came about during an intense time of self-discovery for Ploger. Recently single and in the dating pool, relationships and sex were at the forefront, but instead she focused on how to be truly happy and to embrace life to its fullest. Ploger feels that makeup and clothes are the armor we present to those around us, and that it is rare for someone to catch a glimpse of what lies underneath. The series also came at a time in her life when she was beginning to experience the effects of age. In this series, Ploger visually contemplates these complex topics with emotion and beauty.

“This is a record, or preservation of sorts before the intense physicality I’ve experienced for the first 50 years of my life starts to fade. A remembrance, but also a presentation of strength, a 2-dimensional sculpture of primordial light, delicate, tenuous, sensual, and energy-rich. It is both introspective and exhibitionist, embracing one’s own body and self with the sublime beauty of nature. Nature, something hard to find living in New York City, perhaps heightens my cravings for anything green and floral - grass and weeds flourishing on an empty lot, tree roots breaking through the sidewalk. In contrast to the harsh lines of the city, I am fascinated by the soft curves, frailty, and resilience of the natural world.”

Ploger’s love for street photography and fifteen-year career in graphic designer give her work a sense of immediacy. Her work has appeared on the New York Times website, the documentary 'A Nation Remembers, The Story of the Pentagon Memorial, and she has exhibited at numerous galleries in New York and around the country.