Patrick Owings

In this body of work, This is God’s Country. Why Set it On Fire & Make it Look Like Hell?, I revisit locations that held significance to my family and I growing up in an attempt find a sense of identity through catharsis. Being both queer and an identical twin, I’ve struggled in my adulthood to establish a sense of self and belonging in these Maryland landscapes and marsh-lands that raised me. Through the exploration of the landmarks that exemplify unrestrained adolescence and ephemeral beauty, I am claiming authorship over my memories and bridging the gap between who I was and who I am becoming.

I am transporting the viewer to a space that simultaneously exists and does not exist. My photographs in conversation with sculptural aspects, archival family photographs and collage often point to a recognizable theme or subject without providing the specifics. A photograph of folded-over marsh grass creates a dream-like space that I know and feel as though I could touch, yet the viewer has never been there. Use of color Polaroids decorated with distortions creates an aesthetic of the imperfection of replication as beauty. Ob- serving the work in its entirety engages feelings of nostalgia and intimacy and the sensation of recalling a memory. I use landscapes of the eastern coast as a placeholder for memories to exist (the flow of water, a collection of stones, a field of grass) and disrupt the repetition with placeholders of my memories there.

Absolutely not! My creative process usually begins with a single image, whether it’s archival or one of my own, that inspires a frenzy of frantic art making. After months of trial & error, experimenting with different processes, pages & pages of horribly disorganized sketches, high speed pacing around my apartment, and a couple screaming matches with a printer at 2 AM , a body of work comes to fruition.

Without hesitation I’d have to say Xavier Dolan. All of his films inspire me in more ways than one, specifically I Killed My Mother (‘09), Tom at the Farm (‘13) and Mommy (‘14). If he’s not willing to collab that’s fine, I’d settle for a hug and a chat over some quiches.

I’m constantly inspired by my family, friends and the Richmond art community. Everything I make and do is because of the constant support, feedback and critiques from my loved ones. Thank you to the faculty and students of VCUarts photo & film, my parents, my sisters, my brother, my friends and my g-dad for everything I was, am and will be. Enjoy Life!