Into Place : Photography of Taylor Hanigosky from USA

Taylor Hanigosky is a photographer living in Seattle, Washington. Most of her work is documentary-style narrative seeking relationship of alive and non-living objects with our world and environment. In her imagery, we notice the evidence of a prominent element of human condition and connection in picture of a hapless dead bird. There’s authenticity, sincerity, and boldness in her photography that is tooted in traditional analogue techniques.


taylor-hanigosky-1About : I am an Ohio-born photo artist currently based in Seattle, Washington. My enchantment with photography began in the plastic chamber of a Diana toy camera when I was in high school. From that moment and continuing today, the processes of both traditional and alternative film photography primarily inform my work. My formal educational background is in journalism. So, when I first took an interest in photography, I was mostly occupied with photojournalism and documentation. I really cut my teeth as a young photographer shooting street photography, which helped me to master the camera as a tool and to hone my understanding of composition. Somewhere along the way, however, my work started mingling with fine art photography and blurring the line between reality and fiction. As I matured, my relationship with photojournalism and street photography grew increasingly complicated. I currently seek sustainable and genuine relationships with the people, places and ideas in my photographs.

taylor-hanigosky-2Statement, preferences, etc. : My work is grounded in an analogue format to construct tactile explorations of the human condition. A web of rumination on how we live and why, I photograph to ask subjective questions, not to demand objective answers. The camera is often seen as a torch-runner of evidence and truth. Yet, so much of its scope is limited to what can fit within a frame. Instead, I wish to celebrate the camera as a complex tool that amplifies the artist’s unique voice and perspective.

Through my deliberate use of film as a medium, my creative process is slow, meditative and personal. The limited nature of film shapes my interaction with my camera and my subject. This relationship is my personal protest against the creeping intangibility of communal spaces and engagement.”

taylor-hanigosky-3I primarily shoot medium format on my Mamiya 645. I’ve been hung up on color film lately, always Kodak Portra. In preparing for a shoot or project, I’ll usually mull over an idea for several days or weeks. Some might call that procrastination, but it’s really a more organic process. Much of my work right now is inspired by my own experiences, observations and emotions. By the time I’m finished with a project, it becomes a bit more derived from that original flicker of inspiration; but if you peel back a few layers, it’s there. When I’m working with models or other collaborators, I like to sketch out some specific shots or write things down. It’s much easier to communicate my thoughts and moods that way. An important part of my process right now is printing. Even if it’s a terrible print made on a copy machine, I just need to feel my images on paper. I’ll group them, regroup them, scatter them on the floor, hang them on the refrigerator until something starts to take shape. If I just stare at a screen all the time, I get lost.

taylor-hanigosky-4Project statement - Into Place : Our attachment to the places in which we exist is ephemeral at best and suffocating at worst. Be it through positive or negative associations, pieces of the places we leave become mementos in our minds. Yet, when we revisit those once-familiar places, we often return to a Frankenstein reality.

This ongoing series is comprised of photographs that explore the intersection of place, identity and memory. I am interested in the (dis)connection we feel toward our immediate physical surroundings. During a very transitionary time in my life, this story unfolds more like a lucid dream than a linear cataloguing of events. These images—some spontaneous, others highly orchestrated—repurpose moments of my past and incorporate them into new and changing environments. Memory takes my hand and leads me down the rabbit hole, synthesizing fact and fiction to unravel the places of my past and present.

taylor-hanigosky-5Influences and favorite stuff : I am very influenced by music, literature and the patterns of nature. I read Haruki Murakami’s ‘Kafka on the Shore’ while working on my most recent project, ‘Into Place’, and definitely notice some parallels and conversations between the two works. I also find inspiration in the writings of Patti Smith and Susan Sontag, as well as the compositions of Edward Weston and the themes of Claude Cahun.

taylor-hanigosky-6 taylor-hanigosky-7 taylor-hanigosky-8 taylor-hanigosky-9 taylor-hanigosky-10 taylor-hanigosky-11 taylor-hanigosky-12All photos © Taylor Hanigosky : Website | Instagram

Nishant

Nishant

Nishant studied art history and literature at the university. He works as a translator in New Delhi, India and likes to read about arts, photography, films, technology, life-lessons, and Zen.
Nishant
Urban Landscape Photography of Emmanuel Monzon https://t.co/dOdVLivi7A https://t.co/UCylFOGGbp - 24 hours ago

About Nishant

Nishant studied art history and literature at the university. He works as a translator in New Delhi, India and likes to read about arts, photography, films, technology, life-lessons, and Zen.