WeTransfer Studios, which supports and commissions creative projects, presents a project that brings together two highly influential people in modern photography: iconic American photographer Ryan McGinley and Kathy Ryan, the longtime director of photography at the New York Times Magazine, to explore the meaning of the medium through a personal dialogue.
Kathy Ryan has curated an exclusive online exhibition for WeTransfer with never-before-published photographs by Ryan McGinley. The images will be featured digitally both on a specially-designed interactive page on WeTransfer’s editorial platform ThisWorks and rotating on WeTransfer’s full-screen backgrounds, which serve as a landing page for the service’s 40 million monthly active users.
The digital gallery can be found here: https://we.tl/ryan-mcginley
The images are accompanied by an intimate and wide-ranging conversation between the artist and curator, touching on McGinley’s practice, personal history, and unique perspective on landscape, travel, and community.
WeTransfer Plus users will also be able to customize their WeTransfer profile pages using Ryan McGinley images for the next two months.
Kathy and I honed in on images from my archives that are inspired by the experience of creating and shaping a vision of a community and a place in time. Through this process we’ve seen that images are selected, they are transferred, shared, discussed, and live a life of their own. I’m excited to see the meaning they take on and the ideas they inspire as they circulate on the screens of working creatives around the world through WeTransfer.
Ryan McGinley, about the project
I enjoyed talking with Ryan immensely. He was so eloquent, I found myself asking very few questions. He was so loquacious I just let him talk. He touched on many personal things that are important to his art and life. I think WeTransfer’s community will find it illuminating, inspiring, and informative.
Kathy Ryan, about the project
At WeTransfer, we are excited about working with innovative creatives that inspire us. Ryan McGinley is a tremendously influential photographer with a fresh, contemporary perspective that continues to have a major impact on the broader cultural field. This project offers a unique insight - for our community and beyond - on what inspires these works, and what motivates the practice of photography more broadly.
Lucy Pike, Photography Director at WeTransfer, about the project
About Ryan McGinley
Ryan McGinley, 40, lives in New York City and has been making photographs since 1998. He was named Photographer of the Year in 2003 by American Photo Magazine and awarded the Young Photographer Infinity Award by the International Center of Photography in 2007. He has created iconic images of celebrities including Brad Pitt and Beyoncé, he is a pioneer within portrait- and - documentary photography, and in 2014 he was named ‘The most important photographer in America’ by GQ Magazine.
WeTransfer x Photography
WeTransfer is focused on supporting and commissioning creative projects. Images are among the most-shared files on WeTransfer, and photographers comprise a major proportion of our 40 million creatively-minded users. Not only does WeTransfer provide a super-simple, hassle-free platform on which they can share their work, the company also commissions projects from photographers around the world to tell original, relevant and inspiring stories.
Note to editor
For a download package with the four images above in high resolution for press use, or to arrange an interview with Lucy Pike about the partnership or WeTransfer’s role in photography, please email Søren Nielsen on soren@wetransfer.com.