Mitch Cullin

Man Facing Away

A photograph is a fragment drawn from reality, as well as an abstraction of a moment that was once actual, like a footprint on the edge of a beach in which the rising tide soon removes it altogether from the world; it is this aspect of the medium that has both informed my work over the years and fascinated me from a very young age. While my choice of subject often varies—from street photography to the highly personal, from documentary to portrait sessions—my goal is not so much to evoke the surface of things but, rather, to hint at the psychic currents lurking below the surface, even if the focal point is inanimate. Many of my pictures show faceless individuals seen only from behind, which is a deliberate attempt to put the viewer into the physical space of the photograph, drawing them, hopefully, to contemplate something about themselves while considering the unseen viewpoint of the person(s) in the image. My love of vernacular photography has served to influence how I approach my work. Collecting old photographs picked from flea-market boxes has impressed me with the ephemeral quality of images, especially those which depict holidays, marriages, and childhood without any identifying references; I find these to be metaphors for all forms of photography in general, where once treasured images are quick to pass into forgotten history. Being an allegorical art form, I find that photography best expresses my wish to still impermanence, the transitory, in a frozen moment.