Featured Artist A.E. Richardson

Conceptual artist A.E. Richardson presents a collection of digital photography that explores human emotion and experience. Visit her website to view more.

 

 

From as early as I can remember, there were pictures in my head. There were characters and scenes, dramatic in nature, which transcended the world around me.

 

 

I woke up to these scenes, moved with them and fell asleep to their rocking each night.

 

 

Yet, the world that lived in my head stayed there, locked up and hidden. Buoyed by societal and family pressures, I fell into the old trap of secure and stable work and didn’t explore my artistic visions until well into my adulthood.

 

 

This pause, however, has had a benefit. While my visions fell quiet, I pursued a career as a researcher. I earned a PhD in mental health epidemiology and spending years conducting studies on emotions and behavior. I eventually added coaching, helping people navigate their path to a healthier and more fulfilling life.

 

 

What I learned through these experiences ultimately impacted what would later be my art.

 

 

This is what I found—there is a common theme for us all. We look through this narrow frame of our existence and see just a small sliver of ourselves and the world in which we live.

 

 

We don’t realize it, but our frame is limited and sometimes damaging.

 

 

I want to change this frame. I want to both acknowledge the dark emotions we feel—despair, rejection, regret, hopelessness, hate—and explore how we can move beyond that darkness to find our own power and strength, to find a world that is welcoming and secure.

 

 

Technically, I am a photographer, but my art is not so much in the photos as the scenes created and the stories told. I am drawn to the interplay between light and dark, negative and positive space, action and stillness.

 

 

Everything is a balancing act, and I love to explore that balance and contrast. The theme of the dark background runs throughout my pictures, as they are a reminder that even in the bleakest and darkest of situations, one can always find their standing and can always look up and see the light.

 

Artist A.E. Richardson invites you to follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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