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.

@_patrickowings patrickowings. format.com

Patrick Owings

Did you know right away what this project would become?

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.

If you could make collaborative work with anyone, who would you work with?

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.

What inspires you?

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!