Patricia Lay-Dorsey

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Washington, DC in 1942, Patricia Lay-Dorsey brings her training as a social worker (MSW, Smith College School for Social Work, 1966), studies in fine arts at Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies (1976-79) and over three decades as a visual artist to her work as a photographer. Her photographic practice focuses on seeing herself and others from an insider’s point of view.

Falling Into Place, Lay-Dorsey’s self-portrait essay on living with a disability has been featured in Newsweek Japan and New Mobility Magazine and online in the Arts section of the Huffington Post, ABC News, CBS News, The New York Times Lens blog, The Daily Mail (London), Feature Shoot, Burn Magazine and Slate Magazine’s Behold blog, among others. Dan Damon of BBC World Update conducted a radio interview with Lay-Dorsey that was broadcast globally in August 2014, and her Falling Into Place photo project was subsequently featured on BBC’s Ouch blog.

The Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA), Fovea Exhibitions (Beacon, NY), Central Michigan University (Mt. Pleasant, MI) and Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center and Art Gallery (Detroit, MI) have mounted solo exhibits of prints from Falling Into Place. During November and December 2014, the Lianzchou International Foto Festival in China exhibited 24 prints from Falling Into Place.

In November 2013 Lay-Dorsey’s self portrait book, Falling Into Place, was published by ffotogallery in Cardiff, Wales and is being distributed worldwide. This project was awarded 3rd prize in the 2010 FotoVisura Grant for Outstanding Personal Photography Project and took a 1st prize in Prague's 2013 Photo Annual Awards. Lay-Dorsey is currently using her book as a springboard to give slide presentations and facilitate interactive discussions about disability & creativity for universities, disability organizations and community groups.

Lay-Dorsey has photographs included in two recently published books: 1) A Detroit Anthology, edited by Anna Clark (Rust Belt Chic Press: May 2014); and 2) Looking at Images, by Brooks Jensen (LensWork: June 2014).

Her website is http://www.patricialaydorsey.com. Patricia Lay-Dorsey can be reached by email at playdorsey@comcast.net and by mobile at (313) 410-0454 EST. She and her husband Edward Dorsey have lived in the Detroit area since they married in 1966.