Through photography, I explore the intersection of community, identity, pop culture, and ritual, and how these forces create and sustain both personal and collective mythologies. I am interested in the ways people create their own utopias where belonging can be claimed and performed. Each person or place I photograph exists within a self-constructed world, and I approach these encounters with curiosity, respect, and a desire to understand how meaning is made in everyday life. It is my goal to celebrate and elevate my subjects while reflecting on their roles within the broader patchwork of American pop and subcultures.
My practice is rooted in observation and relationship. I am drawn to how individuals use costume, gesture, and environment to situate themselves — how fashion, style, and self-presentation become tools for declaring an identity. Whether documenting showgirls in Las Vegas, punk bicycle clubs in Brooklyn, or underground gatherings, I see these expressions as a visual language through which individuals author their own narratives.
A search for beauty within disorder runs throughout my practice. I photograph the remnants of raucous parties, portraits of life in unexpected settings, and people and objects out of context, allowing notions of humor, ambiguity, melancholia or quiet surrealism to surface. Working within the environments and communities I encounter — and through my relationship to them — I aim to honor the everyday while revealing its inherent strangeness. In doing so, my images suggest that myth is not distant or historical, but created and embedded in daily life, where the ordinary continually slips into the extraordinary.
Lauren received her MFA from the International Center of Photography-Bard Program in Advanced Photographic Studies and her BA in Art History from Barnard College. Her work has been exhibited widely in New York and abroad, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, and Paul Robeson Gallery. Lauren has been awarded residencies with High Desert Test Sites (Joshua Tree, California), ArtGarda (Sirmione, Italy), Mana Contemporary (Newark, New Jersey), The Camera Club of New York (NYC), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace program (NYC) and was a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Some of Lauren’s clients include Adidas, The New Yorker, NYLON Magazine, Fortune Magazine, Vice, Details Magazine, Bust Magazine, Brooklyn Industries and her work has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Vogue Italia and Elle Magazine.
Curriculum Vitae
Education, Exhibits, Performances, Residencies, Awards, Publications, Experience
Born 1976, Stamford, Connecticut
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Education
Master of Fine Arts
International Center of Photography-Bard Program in Advanced Photographic Studies, 2008
New York, NY
Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude
Barnard College, Columbia University 1998
New York, NY
Solo & Two-person Exhibitions
2022
Anonymous Architectures, Presented by the Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
2018
The Opposite of Salt is Water, Calico, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Shoot! Brooklyn, Brooklyn Industries, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Gold Dust, Whitespace Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2011
Reliquary: The Recent History, AD Projects, New York, NY
2008
Busy as a Rainbow, ICP-Bard MFA Thesis Solo Show, LIC, NY
Group Exhibitions
2025
Unfixxxed, The Elijah Wheat Showroom, Newburgh, NY
Resilience, Brooklyn Grain, Brooklyn, NY
Hi-Dose, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA
Presence, Brooklyn Grain, Brooklyn, NY
2022
Pink Flamingo: Clubs in Flux, Presented by Flux Factory at The Cell Theater, New York, NY
2020
Celestial Opera, Human Cathedrals, Paradice Palase, Brooklyn, NY
2019
Artfare with New Art Dealers Alliance, Miami, FL
Ruin, The Royal Society of American Art, Brooklyn, NY
Twist and Twine, Paradice Palase, LIC, NY
Cycling in the City, The Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
2018
American Splendour, Ilon Art Gallery, New York, NY
Dressed, Paul Robeson Gallery, Newark, NJ
2017
Good Mourning 'Tis of Thee, Co-Lab Projects, Austin TX
Becoming, The Tremaine Gallery, Lakeville, CT
It Was a Pleasure To Burn, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY
Nasty Women, The Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY
2016
Doppelnamer, Spring Break Art Show, New York, NY
2015
Calicornucopia, Calico Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
DocuMENtented, Vandervoort Studios, Brooklyn, NY
#foreverConey, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Greenhouse, One Mile Gallery, Kingston, NY
and i feel fine, Re Institute, Millerton, NY
2014
Calicornucopia 3, Calico Brooklyn, Brooklyn NY
The Last Brucennial, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY
New Orleans Culture Exhibition of Photography, The Multi-Media Museum, Moscow, Russia
2013
Stories in the Social Landscape, The International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Calicornucopia 2, Calico Gallery, Brooklyn, N
#throwbackthursday /#flashbackfriday, Calico Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
New York Art Book Fair, PS1, Long Island City, NY
Ladies Represent!, Superchief Gallery at CultureFix, New York, NY
2012
Finding Family, The Icon, Los Angeles, CA
A Valuation, Alexander Clark & Friends, New York, NY
2010
Capture Brooklyn, The Powerhouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY
The Exquisite Landscape, Rita K. Hillman Education Gallery, International Center of Photography, NY, NY
The Lost Horizon Night Market, Brooklyn, NY
Housebroken, Flux Factory, LIC, NY
2009
Three Rooms Launch, Ramis Barquet, NY, NY
After Dark 78, 551 Gallery, NY, NY
Joyride, Anonymous Gallery, NY, NY
Anti-Oxidant Video Salon, Northeast Kingdom, Brooklyn, NY
2008
The Holidays are Complicated with Whoop Dee Woo, Deitch Projects, NY, NY
Puma I-Cycle, Vice Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
The Busy as a Rainbow Brigade, The Deitch Art Parade, Deitch Projects, NY, NY
Anti-Oxidant Video Salon, Northeast Kingdom, Brooklyn, NY
Joyride, Partners & Spade, NY, NY
Fourteen, The School at the International Center of Photography, NY, NY
2007
ICP Open Studios MFA Group Show, LIC, NY
Joyride: an art show inspired by the bicycle traveling show, Maverick Showroom, London, Colette, Paris and ArtSpace, New York, NY
2006
ICP Open Studios MFA Group Show, LIC, NY
The Miss Rockaway Armada Benefit Show, NY, NY
2005
For Given: 1.Mobility 2.Chance, The Rider Project, NY, NY
2004
Rider Benefit Auction Show, NY, NY
Performances
2014
Infinite Birthdays, Performance commissioned by the Calder Foundation, New York, NY
2012
Life of the Party, The LMCC Downtown Dinner, New York, NY
2010
Hungry For More: Dinner at Midnight, 3rd Ward, Brooklyn, NY
2009
Hungry For More, 3rd Ward, Brooklyn, NY
MisBehavior, Curated by Nayland Blake, Location One, NY, NY
Curatorial Projects
2017 A Rose is A Rose is a Rose, Crest Hardware, Brooklyn, NY
Jo Karlins: Killing It, Spring Break Art Show, New York, NY
2016 Doppelnamer, Spring Break Art Show, New York, NY
Residencies
2025 High Desert Test Site, Joshua Tree, CA
2021 Anderson Ranch, Snowmass, CO
2018 A-Z West Joshua Tree, CA
2016 A-Z West, Joshua Tree, CA
2015 Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
ArtGarda, Sirmione, Italy
2012 The Camera Club of New York, NY, NY
2009 The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Program, NY, NY
Honors and Awards
2018 2nd Place, Ilon Art Gallery Annual Juried Competition of New Photography
2010 Artists Wanted: The Power of Self, Honorable Mention
2009 Visiting Artist, NYU, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Department of Art and Art Professions, NY, NY
2007 PDN Photo Annual 2007
Artist Lectures
2010 The International Center of Photography, New York, NY
2009 The Cooper Union, New York, NY
Publications
2021 Visual Artist Lauren Silberman, Ninu Nina Official, June 2, 2021
2018 Lauren Silberman Photographs Afterparties, Punk Rock Bike Clubs, and the Mystery of the American Dream, HAF New Photography, September 27, 2018
Gold Dust, Vogue Italia, May 29th, 2018
LA Roller Girls, Mâchè Digital, May 17th, 2018
Lauren Silberman: Party Scientist, Musée Magazine, May 7, 2018
2017 The Call Has Gone Viral: Female Artists Give Trump the Finger, Politiken, January 20, 2017
Meet the Nasty Women, ViceNews, January 14, 2017
Massive ‘Nasty Women’ Art Show Raises 35K for Planned Parenthood Opening Night, Hyperallergic, January 14, 2017
2015 What Happens When Men Art Subjected to the Male Gaze, Elle Magazine, December 3, 2015
The Place Where the Past Parties, Bird in Flight, March 3, 2015
2013 It's Gotta Be a Cult! Q&A with Doom Trumpet, Greenpointers.com, October 31, 2013
These Skies are all Funked Up, Hyperallergic, October 14, 2013
The Party is Not Over; The Look, The New York Times Magazine, January 1, 2013
2012 Random Attitudes, Published by OHWOW
Life of the Afterparty; Brooklyn Industries Blog, November 2012
PDN Photo of the Day: Gold Dust; Photo District News Blog, July 2012
2011 Go See This: Lauren Silberman, "The Recent History;" Ladygunn Magazine, May 2011
2009 I Have Decided to Love Contemporary Art, by Naomi Beckwith; Art21 Blog, February 2009
2008 Shift, Published by the International Center of Photography
2007 PDN Photo Annual, May 2007
A Living Lens: Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of the Forward, Published by W.W. Norton & Co.
2002 Here Is New York, Published by Scalo