David Kasnic (b. 1989) grew up in a small fruit production town in Washington State. He received his BA from Western Kentucky University in 2012. He now lives in Chicago, IL, where he is a MFA candidate in photography at Columbia College Chicago. Today we share his series Columbia River Collection.
Columbia River Collection
Columbia River Collection revolves around the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, which flows through the small mountain town I grew up in. I use folk singer Woody Guthrie’s “Columbia River Songs” as a catalyst into a contemporary depiction of the river. “Columbia River Songs” is a 26-song record chronicling Guthrie’s journeys along the Columbia River, in which he was hired to write songs for the Bonneville Dam Administration; specifically the Columbia’s significance to the region and continent, as it provides more than 40 percent of North America’s hydroelectric generation. I attempt to visualize Guthrie’s experience by taking lyrics from each of his songs, turning relic folklore about the Columbia into photographic depiction of it. My work is as much a self portrait as it is an ode to the body of water that has shaped the person I have become.
To view more of David’s work, please visit his website.