BIO

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 a teenager. After attending Parsons School of Design, she continued photographic studies with Lisette Model, Larry Fink, and Inge Bondi from Magnum.

Three books by Lorraine Forte are in the NYU FALES library collection and Howl Arts Archive of downtown artists. 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. Concerns over a changing neighborhood and changing world motivated putting the images together with photo abstractions of the silver and white paint that has been added to roof tarmacs to deter climate change. The third book, Felted, is a carefully spliced combination of photos, respoken information about physics, and creative writing. “Is our behavior inherent in the structure that creates us?”

Lorraine has also shown her work as a video artist. 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. She has 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.