Lachlan Thompson

Lachlan Thompson
Northampton, Massachusetts, USA

STATEMENT

Lachlan Thompson creates works of art that blend analog and digital materials and techniques to create vibrant, narratively rich scenes. Much of their work begins as analog collages, assembled through photographs, magazine collections–particularly political and psychological publications, as well as hand-me-down writings from largely transgender and other marginalized authors. They then scan their analog work, and digitally layer and manipulate it. When sourcing digital materials, they are particularly focused on using publicly available imagery, such as stock images and materials from digital archives with an emphasis on materials sourced from marginalized creators. Some pieces interweave their own personal
poetry within them, while others manipulate resonate words from those of shared identity.

Their process and inspiration is deeply rooted in a background of archaeology, internal family systems perspectives, and a fondness for outsider art. Their pieces seek to portray visual stories of exile and connection, and the ways in which these experiences become blended in the lives of marginalized community members. Rather than settle for nihilism when it comes to reckoning with violent, traumatic histories, their work leans into a radical sense of possibility. They create with a sense of hope that these histories can be tended to and transformed by turning toward them. The layering of their collage work becomes a physical container for this complex experience, juxtaposing stories and experiences rooted in the past with those of our present and future.

BIO

Lachlan Thompson is an emerging mixed media artist whose art blends vibrant, fantastical dreamscapes with intuitive and somatic tools.

For their senior thesis at Hampshire College, titled The Things We Carry, they created an interactive multimedia exhibition which delves into the silences and erasures between public and private memory,
often through lyrical collages that combine family photographs with popular and academic writing as well as personal poetry. With a background in historical archaeology, Lachlan used their self-taught artistic practice to weave together a story of their past-present as a queer and trans survivor of sexual assault and abuse.

Since graduating in 2020, they have continued to build upon their work exploring place, memory, storytelling, and community through being featured in numerous exhibitions, literary journals, and zines
such as Ode to Queer, Queerly Collective, and Nefarious Contemporary as well as beginning curatorial projects. In 2021, as a member of Survivor Arts Collective, they curated an exhibition titled “Our Truth, Our Power” featuring the work of over 20 survivor-artists during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And in early 2022, they built upon this curatorial work through their digital exhibition “Archetypes of Healing”, which featured over 10 artists exploring the way storytelling through tarot can support healing from trauma. Both projects reached international artists and audiences.

When not curating or creating their own vibrant body of work, their presence can be felt in their community through facilitating art-infused workshops, with a particular emphasis on creative nonfiction through collage.

ARTIST CONTACT

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astralcherryart.com

IMAGES