A Conversation with Victoria Charleson

Series: Collateral Damage

Solo Show on view August 29 - September 5, 2021

KP: What is your background? How does it inform your art?

VC: I lived with an undiagnosed mental illness until I was 27 years old. As a prisoner of my mental and emotional mood swings, I desperately searched for ways to channel the pain. Creating artwork gave me a productive way to self-soothe and find meaning within the suffering.

KP: What themes do you often pursue?

VC: I make work that deals primarily with the feelings and experiences of loneliness, heartbreak, sorrow and grief because these feelings are so overwhelming and too heavy to hold, I need a place to put them down.

KP: What messages can viewers take from your body of work?

VC: I hope to give viewers a better understanding of the realities of living with a mental illness and to show that the ability to heal and thrive while having this type of medical condition is possible.

KP: What messages can viewers take from your body of work?

VC: Through weeks of experimentation, I discovered a new photographic process: manipulating the emulsion of Polaroid film. Creating each piece required a meticulous, steady hand, and a quiet concentration. This practice, coincidentally, became my daily meditation.

KP: What materials are vital to your creating process?

VC: I experiment with many different materials, but what is most vital to my practice is my art studio. Having a place dedicated to creating allows me a quiet place to focus on nothing but the project at hand.

KP:  How has your practice evolved over time?

VC: 16 years ago, when I first started making photographs, I considered myself a portrait photographer. I was heavily influenced by Diane Arbus and Mary Ellen mark. Over time I have moved away from traditional photography and have embraced alternative methods using Polaroid film and dismantled camera lenses.

KP:  Where can people find you on social media

VC: artsnob_charleson

KP: How do you offer your work for sale?

VC: I do not make artwork with the intention of selling it and much of my works is NFS, however, if a viewer is interested in purchasing a piece they can contact me directly.