Hello, and welcome!
Here’s some info on my current series.
“Memories and photographs share a similar tragedy; they are broken time machines. We’re allowed to go back, but not allowed to change anything.” - Sommer Browning
Growing up with the mystery of unresolved family secrets and stories, I became fascinated with ambiguity - how it urges us to make meaning where there isn’t any, and attempt to know the unknowable. Drawing inspiration from vintage photography, I create multilayered paintings that explore this theme through realistic imagery and abstract mark-making.
In the work, figures culled from found photographs are blurred, cropped, and distorted. These “mistakes” of analog photography act to distance the figures from their own narrative, while also pulling them into a modern context. They become anonymous stand-ins for the unknown and unknowable people in our past. I invite you to create your own narrative, one in which each of us will find our own unique story within the ambiguity.
Why old photographs?
Since photographs became commonplace, they have been artifacts of our lived experience, and the “proof” of memories passed down. We’ve lived in a time that has allowed us to look at these detailed, very specific clues from the past, and use them as a means of remembering our younger selves, seeing our parents and grandparents as children and young adults, becoming voyeurs of previous generations. They allow us to visit moments from the past, and try to get to know those we’ve never met. Photographs have that kind of magic.
They are also deceptively inaccurate and unreliable sources. Even before photoshop, photos were staged, certain people lined up in a particular way, dressed and posed to give a specific impression. We have no idea who or what is not included, or left out of the frame. We only get to see what is shown to us.
As I continue to work on this series, the work is getting progressively larger and more complex. I hope you’ll follow along. Thanks for stopping by!
Warmly, Natalie
PS - To see work in progress and the latest from the studio, check out my instagram page.
