Artist Statement
I live in Santa Fe, NM where I am inspired to look for psychological metaphors in commonplace architecture and streetscapes. I am trained as a psychotherapist, and I see photography as an extension of that work. Both have called me to explore what is hidden from view, those aspects of self or environment that we may prefer to ignore. I suspect it is our nature to avoid what is difficult or painful, but sometimes I get a glimpse of the sublime in these places. When I find it, it feels like I have discovered gold.
Process Statement
I shoot with a digital camera and do this nearly every day. I don't go anywhere special to make my photographs; instead I find my images around shopping malls, apartment complexes and office parks. I dismantle these scenes to color fields, geometry and shadow. The places I frequent for my images are probably not what people visualize when they think of Santa Fe, a city with a carefully cultivated image. I prefer to shoot in locations that may be viewed as uninteresting or even visually off-putting. This is exciting and challenging for me, to see the metaphorical hiding in plain sight. My photographs are archival ink jet prints mounted to dibond.
Natalie Christensen is a self-taught photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is primarily known for her contemporary minimalist abstractions of New Mexico architecture and streetscapes. She has been featured in Lens Culture, Feature Shoot, Ignant, All About Photo, Jungle Magazine, Women in Photography, Profiles in Photography, Tagezanziger, and Fotopolis among others. She has won several regional awards and shown work both nationally and internationally. Unconventionally, Natalie has used the Instagram social media platform as the vehicle for launching her photography career and has nearly 35,000 followers.
Natalie Christensen has worked as a psychotherapist for over 25 years and has been particularly influenced by the work of depth psychologist, Carl Jung. This influence is evidenced in her photographs, as shadows and psychological symbolism are favored subjects.
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