Paul Thulin uses analog photography, digital montage, appropriation, and various alternative materials, to explore the contextual and material constructs of history, cultural identity, consumerism, memory, and myth. He is represented by Modernbook Gallery in San Francisco, California, and ADA Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally at United Photo Industries, NYC; Miami Scope; Candela Gallery, Richmond Va.; Chicago Art Fair; PPAC, Philadelphia; and the Toronto Art Fair. Thulin has been the recipient of a variety of photographic prizes and awards including a 2001 TPI National Graduate Fellowship, a 2006 Virginia Commission for the Arts Artist Fellowship, and the 2013 Conveyor Magazine Exhibition Grant. In addition, he has worked on curatorial projects related to local non profit art organizations such as 1708 Gallery (Richmond , VA) and Washington Project for the Arts. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia and works as the Graduate Director of the Department of Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University. Today we share Paul’s series Pine Tree Ballads.
Pine Tree Ballads
“Pine Tree Ballads is a poetic vision of land, family, and time. In the early 1900s, my great- the coast of Maine because it resembled his homeland of Sweden. As grandfather settled on result of his attachment to this landscape, my family has returned to Gray’s Point each summer for over a century. This photographic sequence resonates with a subtext of struggle and hope that mirrors my narrative sense of self and experience in these familiar woods of childhood and adulthood. In this place, stories have arisen from the mouths of both the young and old that over time have become the essence of my family’s identity and sense of history. These images construct a unique memoir weaving the magical aura of an ancient, shared, historical record with the mysterious dreams met on dark moonless nights when one does not know if their eyes are open or closed.”
To view more of Paul’s work please visit his website.