Trevor Paglen Quotes

Art is always kind of snooping and listening in.

You can observe a lot by watching.

I think that all great art never strives to answer any questions; it just asks the appropriate ones at the appropriate time.

If with open mind one reads and observes industriously and long; if in so doing one covers a wide field and so covering reflects in terms of realism, he is likely, soon or late, to be brought to a sudden consciousness that Man is an unknown quantity and his existence unsuspected.

I won't call my work entertainment. It's exploring. It's asking questions of people, constantly. 'How much do you feel? How much do you know? Are you aware of this? Can you cope with this?' A good movie will ask you questions you don't already know the answers to. Why would I want to make a film about something I already understand?

Modeling, for me, isn't about being beautiful but creating something interesting for people to look at and think about.

All the things worth writing about are outside me. I'm a lens, not a source. And even if it's not always a comfortable journey, it's always a stimulating one.

I was always an outsider, always standing outside, observing and trying to figure things out. Which is exactly what you need to do as a writer, I suppose.

I would urge everyone to start looking at the world in a different way. Spend some time looking at everyday objects, at their design, their shape, their individual characteristics. Think ahead and imagine their significance.

For me, art is supposed to be a question mark.

I don't understand why people talk of art as a luxury when it's a mind-altering possibility.

I think that's always the goal of art, is to make people ask themselves questions.

Art has the power to influence and to make you react to something that you normally wouldn't concern, worry, or even think about or wouldn't want to talk about.

The job of any artiste is to open the eyes of the public to their surroundings and make them aware of it.

Inspiration is around you. Like, when I travel any country, be it Paris or London, while walking on the streets, the architecture, the restaurants all inspire me. Inspiration for design could be anywhere.

It is popular to believe that in order to see clearly one must believe nothing. This may work well enough if you are observing cells under a microscope. It will not work if you are writing fiction. For the fiction writer, to believe nothing is to see nothing.

An artist's business is only to see.

See what no one else sees. See what everyone chooses not to see... out of fear, conformity or laziness. See the whole world anew each day!

The eye is not open when it is limited to the passive role of a mirror... if it has only the capacity to reflect.

Art is about paying attention.

We are not conscious of most things until we ask ourselves questions about them.

You must look at facts, because they look at you.

Observe, Remember, Compare.

There's always something new by looking at the same thing over and over.

The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.