Chris Dahlquist

Background

About Chris Dahlquist

Creating beautiful, still images to calm your mind. I discovered an affinity for the sensibility and aesthetic of the 19th century photographers through my third grade pinhole camera and science fair experiments. With that continued inspiration I combine the materiality and optical quality of historic photographic process with contemporary materials and technology, creating quiet images of “in-between” spaces. I photograph islands of solitude, places with more memories and daydreams than fireworks, moments where we must be mindful to appreciate the subtle beauty that resides there. During photography’s progression from the enlarger to the computer, I recognized the importance of my tactile connection to the images, the meditation of working physically in concert with the materials. It is in this process that I transform from observer to participant, showing the work of my hand to insert myself into the scene. Drawing inspiration from those earliest photographer/scientists, I created modern ways to explore the photograph as object, combining old and new to make works that have the artifacts found in the historic processes. Anachronistically, each piece that I create is singular; the material, handwork, and image combine to form an original object, one that lives outside the world of reproduction.