Katherine Murphy

What is your Senior Thesis?

I am combining fragments of my poems to paired images in an attempt to express the vast and intimate world two people create when they, themselves, are together.

Some are siblings, everything is known, everything is understood.
Some are lovers, he does not always understand her. Some things stay hidden.
Some are strangers, nothing is known or understood, yet.
Some are you and only you, everything circling within yourself.
(They Meet)


What motivated you to start this project? What inspires your creative process?

I have been writing for as long as I can remember and have used it as an escape into my own world, one of slightly different sound and colors, animals and energy, and come back with a way to tell this world what I mean. I knew I wanted to connect words with my other passion, photography, and hope that such personal work can be relatable to all, which I believe is possible the less I explain where it’s all coming from and allow others to draw from their own experiences.


Do you work in film or digital? Please describe any technique or process relevant to your project.

Mainly digital, some 35 mm. I see two images that compliment one another after I have taken them, intuitively I know they will go together, and then I introduce them to poem fragments. They exist separately, but are drawn toward one another to make something stronger.

Is this a new project or a continuation of previous work?

It’s a new way to express the two ways I work, words and imagery. I am planning on continuing this work and, right now, to me, the work is infinite.

How has your work developed or changed over time?

The introducing of words and the intent behind pairing images is new for me, but the style of my work and what drives me is something that I’ve always had.

What artists or works of art have inspired or influenced you?

Poets Robert Creeley and Richard Grossman. Painter of Poems, Kenneth Patchen.

What kind of response do you hope to get from your viewers? Is there a certain experience you want people to take away from your photographs?

Calm uncertainty, to think of her; to think of him; to think your own capacity.

What is the ideal setting to view your work? Do you picture your photographs in a book? In a gallery?

I’d like to make a book. Something you can hold, and hide and bring with you.

Do you have any ideas or plans for future work?

KEEP GOING

What do you see yourself doing after graduation?

GONNA KEEP GOING