Petra Collins is an artist, model and photographer whose distinct aesthetic has made her one of the leading voices of the movement many are calling New-Wave Feminism, and created campaigns for Gucci, Nordstrom and Adidas, among others.
Collins’ relationship with Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele has led her to walk in the Autumn/Winter 2016 show, shoot a short film for Gucci eyewear in 2017, and feature in the house's Gucci Bloom fragrance advertising campaign alongside Dakota Johnson and Hari Nef . “I love Petra,” Michele told the New Yorker. “She is an artist, a real woman of an intense and powerful beauty.”
Noted as one of a group of young female artists leading a new wave of female gaze-led photography, Collins’ first major outlet for her photography, which she continues to shoot on film, was with contemporary Tavi Gevinson’s Rookie magazine.
Growing up in Toronto, she launched her art collective The Arduous at age 17. After moving to New York, Collins held exhibitions of her work, including a show and controversial shirt collaboration with American Apparel that gained international attention. She has since photographed covers and high-end editorial for publications such as US and Italian Vogue, Dazed , The New York Times and CR Fashion Book, and notably shot Kim Kardashian for Wonderland Magazine and Chance the Rapper on the cover of Teen Vogue.
“I’m very lucky that I’m not a photographer for hire—people hire me for me,” Collins told Forbes. “Every brand I’ve worked for just lets me do whatever I want to do, I have full creative freedom.”
Collins has exhibited in institutions that include The Museum of Modern Art, The Tate Modern and Miami & Hong Kong Art Basel. She has also lent her hand to the film and music industry, shooting music videos and artwork for artists such as Selena Gomez , and directing short films for Gucci and Adidas.
In 2017, she was named in Forbes' "30 Under 30" list, as well as Vogue’s 40 Creatives To Watch and the Dazed 100.
She released her first art book, “Babe,” with Random House in 2015, and produced a solo retrospective of her work with Rizzoli in autumn 2017.
