Sophie Harris-Taylor
Sophie Harris-Taylor Profile
• Sophie Harris-Taylor is an award-winning fine art portrait photographer.
• In 2015, she was a finalist in the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
• Other awards include winning the 2017 Portrait of Britain and being shortlisted for the illustrious 2013 Renaissance Photography Prize.
• Her work has been exhibited in more than a dozen solo and group exhibitions across the UK, including Photo London and M&C Saatchi.
• Sophie is the author of two photo books, Sisters and MTWTFSS (an abbreviation for the seven days of the week). Her work has been published in many titles, including Spiegel, Elle, Vanity Fair Italia, Huffington Post and The Guardian.
How many of us are really comfortable in our own skin? If you are a model, actor, beautician or just an everyday Instagram-addled teenager, it’s a question with a potentially huge bearing upon how you see yourself – and how you think others see you. No matter how many times we try to reassure ourselves with the centuries-old proverb, ‘beauty is only skin deep’, it seems that a person’s looks continue to be defined by the images promoting beauty products, makeup and fashion brands. Magazine covers, model agencies and, yes, photographers have an influential role in shaping these perceptions. But there are exceptions: Sophie Harris-Taylor is a fine art portrait photographer who has built a reputation for making award-winning prints of everyday people, predominantly women, struggling with skin conditions, social and mental health issues, or whatever family and personal challenges life throws at them. Including herself.
Sophie’s latest exhibition, , shown this September at London’s Print Space Gallery, was inspired by her own teenage experiences, as well as her admiration for the way modern painters Lucien Freud and Jenny Saville depict human I finally felt like I could photograph real skin.” Of course, her story, much like her work, is infinitely more than a skin deep tale.
