Isobel Rae, (1993) is a Canadian born visual artist from Calgary, AB currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY- her sibling portraits are just insanely beautiful.

Your greatest inspirations or influences?

In terms of photographers, I am influenced and inspired by Alec Soth, Larry Sultan, Tina Barney, Joel Sternfeld, Carl DeKeyzer (to name a few, as there are many more). A few of my professors also had a huge influence on my artistic point of view, namely Sandra Semchuk and Scott Conarroe. I am also inspired by my own memories and imagination, my family, nature, personal relationships and love.

Tell us a bit about your creative process?

So many of my ideas and visions never make it out of my brain, but for those that do, it usually starts with something I see as i’m walking down the street or a thought that just keeps recurring. I like to think for a long time about these ideas, weeks, months, sometimes years, until I will actually start working on the idea in the flesh.

So much of my process is rooted in experimentation, and although I would like to have everything planned out, it never quite goes that way for me and I usually just go with the flow of whatever happens when it comes down to it, I think its kind of poetic to just allow things to fall where they do.

I have the idea, I take the photos, then I develop the film at home in my kitchen. I started doing this around November of last year, and it’s become an important part of my process because I enjoy having my hand in it from start to finish. After the film is developed I will go to the darkroom and handprint. Printing in the darkroom is very meditative for me and I enjoy working with the material a lot, it allows for a lot of personality to be put into the images, playing with light and color.

How has this year changed your creativity or how you see the world changing moving forward?

I would say this past year really allowed me to focus on my own practice and I was able to work basically full time on my photography without any distractions, allowing me to really think about what I want and what I’m interested in, also giving me the time and space to experiment with my creativity and develop my creative process further.

I think the we and the world are always changing and we are in a constant evolution, I can’t say how the world will change but I can only hope it will be changing for the better.

Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?

I think Telfar Clemens is a major icon of our time. His vision is so big and its really inspiring to see him do things that I don’t think most people would even think of. His bags have become such a staple they are an icon in themselves, to his collaborations with the Real Housewives franchise, to designing all of the White Castle uniforms nationally, and now to Telfar designing the uniforms for the Liberia Olympic team. I really think every move they make is so major and there’s no one doing it quite like him.

Do you think the art world needs to change, and if so how do you feel it can improve?

I am honestly not really sure, I don't consider myself to be so involved in the art world or the politics of the art world, I am more on the outside looking in. I think that artists should just make work that they like and that resonates with them and hope that others can find something in it as well.

What does wellbeing mean to you?

I think it comes down to a balance, a balance of good and bad, success and struggle. My work would not be where it is today without the long road I've had until now of trial and error and finding out what suits me.

Website/Instagram