Chris Dahlquist

I continue to utilize materials, layers, texture and the mark of my hand to further the story of the photograph. However, instead of the solidity of the steel in my previous Mile Marker series, I am utilizing the whisper like quality of waxed washi paper to suspend time by eschewing detail and context, creating a veiled placeholder to contain our memories. In music, ghost notes are notes that are played but not meant to be heard, thereby giving amplification to the others around it.
Since I was eight years old, I have used a camera to quiet a world that contains too much visual stimulation for my racing brain. The lens gives me a distance from my environment, and acts as a filter to slow the intake of information so that I can capture what is before me. Once back in my studio, I am afforded the quiet space to consider the collected images.
With my third grade pinhole camera and science fair experiments I found an affinity for the sensibility and aesthetic of the 19th century photographers. With that continued inspiration I combine the materiality and optical quality of historic photographic process with contemporary materials and technology, creating quiet images of Òin-betweenÓ spaces, the ones where we must be mindful to appreciate the subtle beauty that resides there. I photograph islands of solitude, the places with fewer fireworks but more daydreams, the silence that allows the inner dialogue to be heard.