About This Project

Sophie Chalk

The tintype portraits in my series Natural Configuration are peculiar in their timeless, yet contemporary presence. Featuring queer bodies that cannot be directly placed into any era of history. The series draws inspiration from Queer Ecology theory, German Expressionism, silent film, and photographic history. But most importantly, from the visibility of queer selfhood displayed by the global LGBTQ+ community.

This ongoing series (beginning in 2015) operates to subvert our understanding of photographic archives of the past. While simultaneously existing as a personal reflection of my own (also ongoing) journey of self-discovery.  In the current climate of the US, they are also a sustained effort to further insert notions of organic queer expression into the Western canon; an assertion of how naturally it comes to us, even if the archive is falsified. 

All images were made between 2015-2022 on 4×5″ tintypes, using the wet plate collodion process.

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