Your name
Anna Thorne
Place of birth
Florida
Place where you live now
New York City
3 words to describe you
Introspective, Alien, Existential
Why do you take pictures?
Photography is a medium that helps me perceive the world around and within me in new ways. It challenges me to evolve my internal reality by showing me new ways of viewing visual reality. Photographing is also a form of meditation for me, when I'm looking through that viewfinder, nothing else in the world exists, nothing is on my mind except for what I'm seeing through the camera.
Where do you get your inspiration?
My inspiration comes from a Near Death Experience I had when I was 21. In this experience I lost awareness of my body, sense of identity and external surroundings. Time, meaning, thought and emotion all ceased. Surrounded by complete darkness, the only observable object was a single bright light. This light of absolute clarity consumed my awareness and crystallized my life's mission to imbue a meditative state of presence into daily life.
Who are your influences?
Aaron Siskind, Uta Barth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Wolfgang Tillmans, Duane Michals, Andre Kertesz, Arno Minkkinen
What determines the subject matter you choose?
My subject matter is light itself, particularly natural light with a deep depth of highlights and shadows. I love photographing light because it is at the heart of every photograph ever taken. We may not always realize this truth because photographs are full of subject matter to look at (people, landscapes, animals, etc.), but every photograph is made by capturing the photons that bounce off of these objects and into the camera's sensor (to become pixels).
What impact would you like your art to have?
I hope for my work to offer a moment of visual meditation, a chance to slow down the mind and fully immerse oneself in the act of looking. There is beauty all around us, but with busy schedules and things to do, it is all too easy to forget the subtle magic hidden all around us in daily life. My most sincere hope is for my work to invite a more mindful way of being, particularly through becoming more aware of the visual subtleties of natural light that can be discovered in the most ordinary of places.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
Anything abstract or surreal.
Is there anything you want to add?
Thank you :)
