Lorraine Forte

Lorraine Forte has lived in New York City for most of her life. Nocturnal, urban environments are the focus of much of her work. Her photographs are usually environmental and ambient rather than subject-driven, inviting the viewer into unique perspectives of film noir-like locations.

Lorraine began shooting and printing as an early teenager. After attending Parsons School of Design, she continued photographic studies with Lisette Model, Larry Fink, and Inge Bondi from Magnum.

NYU FALES library and Howl Arts archives of downtown artists have three of her photo books. Macchiato, is a book of nocturnal black and white images. It offers a dreamlike progression through New York, Kyoto, and several European cities. The New-York Historical Society has a collection of 42 of these prints. The second book, Loisaida Fireworks, is a series of images taken from East Village rooftops during annual fireworks displays. The show is driven by a subtext of apprehension about our changing world. The third book, Felted, is a carefully spliced combination of photos, respoken information about physics, yarns from a life spent in downtown Manhattan, and creative writing. “Is our behavior inherent in the structure that creates us?”

Two videos, Traffic Meditation and Flying Road, were shown at the New Museum and Exit Art with performances by a band that honors the work of Arthur Russell. Lorraine has also made photographic and creative contributions to several performance and film projects including Black Kites, a film directed by Jo Andres and produced by Steve Buscemi that was shown at Sundance.

As a graphic designer, she produced three type resources by photographing and culling letters from New York City buildings, neon signs, and random objects on the street. She has worked in television, ad agencies, was creative director of a magazine, and designed several commercially successful children’s books.

Despite her life as an urbanite, Lorraine is devoted to environmental issues. In 2008 she received a presidential award for designing a ‘low-cost-easy-to-install’ tree guard and for her work with city street trees. She continues this work, helps maintain a community compost site, and is a member of a local garden.