Ryan McGinley: Parsons Commencement 2014 Speech by Ryan McGinley Studios

For this years commencement speech Parsons New York invited American photographer Ryan McGinely to make the noteworthy speech to the graduating students of 2014. McGinley’s photographs portray a youthful freedom. His small tribe of exuberant models and friends follow their instincts and are captured crossing the country, connecting with nature, with eachother, and with themselves. “By my fourth year in school, I was shooting every day and every night. I photographed every little thing—all my food, doorways covered in graffiti, and my friends and roommates. I tortured my first boyfriend, Marc, by capturing each moment of our relationship. I was obsessed with documenting my life. So that’s my advice to you: Find something to be obsessed with, and then obsess over it. Don’t compete; find what’s uniquely yours. Take your experience of life and connect that with your knowledge of photographic history. Mix it all together, and create an artistic world that we can enter into.”

In 2003, at the age of 25, McGinley was one of the youngest artists to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was also named Photographer of the Year in 2003 by American Photo Magazine. In 2007 McGinley was awarded the Young Photographer Infinity Award by the International Center of Photography.

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