Devin Lunsford: States Project: Alabama

Devin Lunsford: States Project: Alabama by Caitlin PetersonNovember 8, 2015

©Devin Lunsford

Sadly, my week of guest curating has come to an end, but what a week it has been. To conclude, I’m pleased to share the work of Devin Lunsford. If I’m being honest, I don’t quite remember how I stumbled upon Devin’s work, though I’m sure it was during one of many Google searches for “Alabama photographers.” But once I found him I absolutely knew I wanted to feature him this week. I was immediately drawn to the atmosphere his images possess. They have a real presence to them and immediately made me want to find out more about why he was making them. He’s exploring the idea of disconnectedness to his immediate surroundings, which is something I can certainly relate to, and I think it’s something he does with a real sense of finesse.

Devin Lunsford was born in Boise, Idaho, and is currently based in Birmingham, Alabama, where he is pursuing a BA in studio art at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His work focuses primarily on place, memory, and community and has been recently featured in the traveling group exhibition Accidental Grace, The Aviary Gallery’s online exhibition Back to School, as well as the 2015 SlowExposures juried exhibition.

Waiting for Something That’s Not Coming

Although I have lived in Alabama for years, I feel like an outsider and am unsure of what home really looks like. I photograph as a means to understand who I am and where I come from and use my camera to make quiet, melancholy, isolating pictures. I am drawn to the alien within the mundane–the sodium street lights that paint the landscape in a peculiar glow, shadows that hold personified expressions, and trees that lurch out of the darkness, grasping for a presence that will never come.