Women United ART PRIZE 2023
Photography & Printmaking Category
finalist

ARTIST BIO

Patricia Fortlage is an award-winning photographic storyteller and fine art photographer. From her core belief that if you invest in women and girls, entire communities will be raised, Patricia has focused much of her career doing just that.

From her powerful piece covering the female-led Othakarhaka Foundation in Southern Malawi to the stereotype breaking, female empowering Wonder, girl! Project, to a project on the often life-long after-effects of sexual assault on women, Patricia has promoted female empowerment one project at a time. She’s documented conditions and shared stories of struggle and success, helped to promote tourism in the poorest of nations, and overall, devoted her artistic work to furthering community development.

Patricia learned a lot during her work overseas. She learned that no matter where one lives, everyone is doing the very best that they can, and that most welcome support and collaborations where they can find them. She learned about the generosity of others, especially those in the medical profession, who give of their time and skills freely and fervently to save lives. She learned that her documentary skills as a photographer, while honed, paled in comparison to the real life-saving work performed by locals and foreigners united by shared visions. She is humbled to have partnered on this treasured work.

Patricia also learned that in addition to love, food, and health, art is sustenance. In so many cultures, art is revered… it is savored. Whether that art be music, paintings, weavings, sculpture, photography… the list goes on… art is contentment for the soul, it inspires change, it brings joy. This has led to an alchemy of her own work, transitioning more towards fine art photography in recent years. Her work has been published nationally and she has widely exhibited in solo and juried exhibits across the US.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My name is Patricia Fortlage and I am a documentary and fine art photographer. My goal is to create work that moves people, work that inspires change, especially for women. Studies have shown that if you invest in women, entire communities will be raised. I seek to do just that. For the past 17 years I partnered with programs in developing countries to document their work, the issues they face, and how they are addressing those issues. Alongside this, I have also created bodies of work here in the US to advocate for women. Even now, with a progressive diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis and the physical limitations that that entails, I continue to create work to improve the lives of my sisters everywhere. Even my fine art work seeks to tell a story and inspire change.

My latest project is a fine art series that seeks to bring awareness to the impact fake news is having on all of us. It is titled, “Not As It Seems,” and it is a series testing assumptions and encouraging contemplation. What do you see? Are you sure? We are living in a time when jumping to conclusions has become sport. We’re quick. We’re decisive. Are we right? How can we be so quick and decisive in our conclusions when so much of what surrounds us is made up? I hope to challenge this through this fine art series.

My hope is for the viewer to have an immediate emotional reaction to my images, as opposed to an intellectual reaction, one that will move them and inspire them in how they themselves move in the world. I hope to sometimes educate and inspire with my work, sometimes shock and surprise. At its most poignant, I would like to hope I have inspired positive change.

Los Angeles, CA / United States