Katie Carlsen | Photography

Artist Statement

I have long been intrigued with found imagery; it is something that was once precious to someone and has since lost its purpose. The found objects in my work includes photographs and postcards, both of which are that were once precious to someone but eventually discarded. Much of the found photography I’ve encountered is from a time when photographs were made using a film camera, which allowed for only a limited number of images to be recorded on each roll of film. This meant a photograph had to have some semblance of significance for it to be worthy of a frame on the roll of film. This is quite different than today, having a camera at your fingertips at any given moment. These images are a record of friends, family, and meaningful locations. Postcards were once used as record of a significant location sent with a note to a loved one, now a lost art. These objects were used to hold memories, to look back on, but now are left to look back upon by strangers. Even though it may have once meant something important to someone, why the postcard was sent, what the location meant to the sender, and who received it is unknown to me. Now these objects are in my hands, to place within a newfound context.

By creating these single-edition collages on top of my own images, I recontextualize the significance of these found images by piecing them into today’s world. Through the use of formal design elements in the compositional arrangements that allow the found imagery to align within my images, connections are made to both the past and present. While cutting into these found images, some up to one hundred years old, I experience feelings of discomfort regardless of the lack of personal connection. Despite the unknown history of these images, there is a familiarity that can be tied to personal family photos and history. Through motifs of light and shadow denoting the past and present and drawing on the iconography of nature as symbols of the family tree and deep-rooted history, I tie these found images to the modern day.

Before altering these images, I preserve them in their original form on my archive, 
@the_artists_archives on Instagram. I invite you to investigate these images in their entirety.