Quotes from Petra Collins

A thing that I'm always worried about doing is putting an image of myself on my Instagram or somewhere else that looks perfect, because that's not who I am, and that's not what I want to preach.

Feminism is a lens I see the world through and what I believe in. I don't ever use it as a tool of promotion.

I'm so pro-selfie because I think it's a tool that allows girls to create images of their own and of themselves.

The selfie is a powerful tool, but it can also be dangerous, and I am fascinated with the process of it because there is a level of self-monitoring.

If a guy can't handle your natural hair, he's weak. Why waste time on someone like that?

It's so important for women to create images of women - or any group, at that.

I used to hate my hair. Now I love it. I spend hours brushing my hair out after it dries. I love it when it's big.

It's very insulting when you're in charge and someone is talking down to you.

A good jean that fits someone's butt right is just amazing. It's just classic.

I was very depressed at a young age and felt like I didn't have agency towards that. Being 'female' meant I couldn't be that - I couldn't be angry, loud, sullen. Being sad meant I was weak.

I was depressed at a very young age - mental illness runs in my family, especially on the female side.

You don't have to try to get a job and go through set steps before you start a career or start your life. That's what I want young girls to know - you can do anything you want. Just start.

What's cool is when people send me messages or tag me in their photos, which definitely happens more after a project comes out. The best part, I think, is that the DMs and tags are always from young girls, and reaching them is the most important thing for me.

As a young woman, I was disturbed by the fact that there was no imagery that truly expressed the experience of a young woman and the challenges and turbulence we go through. All we had were teenage magazines like 'Cosmopolitan,' which are very one-sided and show an objectified view of women.

Being taken seriously as a young woman is the biggest hurdle as I grow older.

I started out taking photos of my friends on, like, disposable cameras, and I documented my younger sister and her friends all through high school.

If a guy can't handle your crazy pictures, he's probably not someone you want in your life.

I know having a social media profile removed is a 21st century privileged problem - but it is the way a lot of us live. These profiles mimic our physical selves and a lot of the time are even more important. They are ways to connect with an audience, to start discussion, and to create change.

With social media and all the new technology, there's just more interfaces around and reminders to constantly be working on our body.

Social media has been such a big important thing for young artists and minorities because it's a community to get noticed. It's having an audience that was never there before.

I think the gender norms of emotion are horrendous. Being masculine means showing zero emotions, but having the choice to be angry or depressed. Being female means you are one dimensional - if you show more than that, you are a psycho, hysterical, or historically, a witch.

I think a way that feminist photographers work is turning what was the object into the subject and really making it our own.

Curating, in the modern sense, is something I gravitate to. Taking different ideas from a bunch of different places and putting them into one place or space, a story that makes sense or a new idea. Everything is remixed and taken from other things to make something new.

I'm used to being told by society that I must regulate my body to fit the norm. I'm used to the fact that images of unaltered women are seen as unacceptable.