Natalie Christensen is a photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is a frequent contributor to online contemporary and fine art photography magazines, has won several regional awards and shown work in the U.S. and internationally including London, Dusseldorf, New York and Los Angeles. She is one of five invited photographers in the upcoming exhibition, The National 2018: Best of Contemporary Photography at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and has been named one of “Ten Photographers to Watch” by the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. In addition to pursuing her interests in art and design, Natalie has worked as a psychotherapist for over 25 years and has been particularly influenced by the work of depth psychologist, Carl Jung. This influence is evidenced in her photographs, as shadows and psychological metaphors are favored subjects.
You can see more of Natalie’s work on Instagram or her website.
My photography is inspired by a move from Kentucky, where I had spent my entire life, to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Influenced by the rich history of artists working in the region and spawned by my 25-year career as a psychotherapist, I have been exploring the “shadow” of the idealized American Southwest.
The “shadow” is a psychological term that refers to the side of one’s personality that contains all sorts of unrecognized capacities and potential, which if not recognized, maintain a state of impoverishment in the person and deprive them of energy and connectedness.
Through these landscapes I am using my experience as a psychotherapist to call attention to the charged scenes the casual observer may pass by on their way to more esteemed landmarks.
There is the essence of the proverbial Southwestern light in these photos; however, I am asking the viewer to look beyond the romanticized myth and consider the quiet moments and little dramas happening on the fringes that expose another side of the story being told about this iconic place.
