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About the Artist
Photographer Natalie Christensen has an inimitable, enchanting focus on the exploration of the more banal peripheral landscapes that often go unnoticed by the casual observer. Her zealous engagement with her subject matter has not gone unnoticed in the global sphere of contemporary art. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, her work has been exhibited by prestigious venues coast to coast in the United States, as well as in London, Paris, Berlin, Malmö and Barcelona.
Christensen’s work is inspired by commonplace architecture and streetscapes. “I don’t have to go anywhere special to make my photography; instead, I find my images around shopping centers, apartment complexes and office parks.” Choosing to shoot in locations that may be viewed as uninteresting or even visually off-putting, she finds this challenging, to “see” something hidden in plain sight. Christensen notes “It is our nature to ignore what is unpleasant, but sometimes I get a glimpse of the sublime in these ordinary places. When I find it, it feels like I have discovered gold.” Closed and open doors, empty parking lots and forgotten swimming pools draw her to a scene; her reactions elicit interpretation.
Christensen had worked as a psychotherapist for over 25 years and was particularly influenced by the theories of psychologist Carl Jung. This influence is evident in her photographs, as shadows and psychological metaphors are favored subjects. These isolated tableaus are dismantled down to color fields, geometry and shadow. Her photos often evince a somber interpretation - evoking repressed desires, unexplained tension and looming disaster. “The symbols and spaces in my images are an invitation to explore a rich world that is concealed from consciousness, and an enticement to contemplate narratives that have no remarkable life yet tap into something deeply familiar to our experience; often disturbing, sometimes amusing…unquestionably present.”
Awarded the 2022 Minimalist Photography Award – Fine Art Winner, Christensen also was the recipient of the Juror's choice award / Deep Blue Pool at the 2022 Objects of Desire exhibition, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL; Art Folio Book 2022 Gold Prize Winner; named one of "Ten Photographers to Watch" by the Los Angeles Center of Digital Art; Purchase Prize recipient of the 33rd Annual
International Exhibition at the University of Texas at Tyler; Urban 2020 Photo Awards finalist; Acclaimed Artist Series selection, Art in Public Places, New Mexico Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs 2020; Smithsonian’s 15th Annual Photo Contest finalist; Lucie Foundation semi-finalist; and Honorable Mention recipient from the International Photo Awards, Julia Margaret Cameron Award and Chromatic Awards. As one of five invited photographers for The National 2018: Best of Contemporary Photography at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana, her work was purchased for the permanent collection.
Minimalism in Photography, published and released in 2022 by teNeues, Düsseldorf, Germany, featured her work as well as her cover art. Setanta Books, London, recently published a photobook of her work entitled 007 – Natalie Christensen. Christensen was an invited guest of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, D.C. and joined a blue-ribbon delegation for a one-week cultural tour of the UAE. Selected as Artist-in-Residence at Chateau d'Orquevaux in France, her tenure will begin at a future date. Christensen presented a lectures series at the Royal College of Art, London and led photography workshops at Royal Photographic Society, Birmingham, UK and Meow Wolf, the immersive art installation/experience in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Christensen’s recent and upcoming exhibitions include Nordic Art Agency, Malmö, Sweden; Viral Human. Public Art and Metaverse, MiRNArte, Venice, Italy; Building Identity / Modern Architectural Heritage of the Emirates, Palm Springs Modernism Week, Palm Springs, CA; Pie Projects, Santa Fe, NM; Abbaye St André Centre d’ art contemporain, Meymac, France; Sahara West Gallery and Performing Arts Center, Las Vegas, NV; Cedarburg Art Museum, Cedarburg, WI; Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL; SHIFTINGSCAPE (S) (collaboration with Jim Eyre), a street installation in two public locations in London: Mayfair and Soho; Galerie Catherine et André Hug, Paris, France; SITE Santa Fe, NM; Open Doors Gallery, London; Hôtel Jules & Jim, Paris, France; Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK; Embassy of the United Arab Emirates and Meridian International Center, Washington, D.C.; Intersect Arts Center, St. Louis, MO; The Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY; Fort Worth Community Arts Center, TX; Attleboro Arts Museum, MA; Albuquerque Museum, NM; Yellowstone Art Museum, MT; High Desert Museum, OR; California Museum of Photography, CA; Art Palm Springs, CA; South Bend Museum, IN; Coos Art Museum, OR; MoMA at Site Brooklyn Gallery, NY; Midwest Center for Photography, KS; A+D Architecture and Design Museum, CA; and Center for Photographic Art, CA. Collaborative site-specific projects include Iconic Standard Vision Billboard, Los Angeles; El Rey Court, Santa
Fe; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; and Peckham Levels, London. Recent NFT exhibitions include 1st Dibs and ART3/New Art City.
International art fairs: Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark; Art Nordic Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark; HANSA Pop-Up, Malmö, Sweden; Malmö Gallery Weekend/Malmö Gallerihelg 2021; Affordable Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden; and Blipoint Festival Barcelona, Spain.
Press coverage includes F-Stop Magazine; The Woven Tale Press; Parentheses Journal; Forget-Me-Not Press; Abandon Journal; The Fictional Café; The Columbia Review; Kitchen Table Quarterly; The Café Review; Cleaver; CALYX, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women; Feature Shoot; The Guardian, London; The Observer, London; Creative Boom, Manchester, UK; The British Journal of Photography, London; Aesthetica Magazine, York, UK; Western Art & Architecture; Southwest Contemporary; NR Magazine, London; Peripheral ARTeries, London; LandEscape Art Review, London; Artdose Magazine; Whitefish Review; Another Chicago Magazine; Nordic Style Magazine, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Faroe Islands; MVIBE Magazine, NY; Aji Magazine; Apricity; ArLiJo; Collater.al magazine, Milan; Musee Magazine, NY; Better Photography Magazine, Bombay; Art Reveal Magazine; Magazine 43, Manila, Berlin, Hong Kong; Site Unseen; Lens Culture, Amsterdam; All About Photo; and Women in Photography. She has been interviewed on Nordic Art Agency Podcast, Sweden; Ian Howorth’s MPB Blog; Coffee + Culture, KTRC, Santa Fe, NM; Cline’s Corner, Santa Fe Public Radio, KSFR FM, Santa Fe, NM; and Art World Innovators, UMFM radio, Manitoba, Canada. Christensen’s photographs are in private and corporate collections worldwide.
Christensen is represented by Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Nordic Art Agency, Malmo, Sweden; Galerie Catherine et André Hug, Paris, France; Susan Spiritus Gallery, Newport Beach, California; and Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, New Jersey.
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