Nina Welch-Kling


Welch-Kling observes people in the streets; the series Duologues records fragments of these encounters. It is a play between two images, creating meanings belonging to neither – a discovery process that each viewer interprets differently. Reminiscent of synchronicity, an idea that describes meaningful coincidences, the pairings intentionally produce uncanny relationships.

Shooting intuitively and spontaneously, the photographer’s eyes lock onto the unusual, the outstanding, and even the mundane. Frequently, dramatic lighting shapes the photographs. She collects the unrelated pieces like stems in a wildflower field – disconnected, yet bound together by their place of origin. The visuals seem familiar, but particulars will distinguish them from the common.

The images are paired by playing a game of Memory: finding in each image shapes, gestures, and symbols that rhyme. The rhyming may occur within the major elements in the image, such as the subject, or in minute details that otherwise might go unnoticed. By pairing two photos that occurred at different times, the story that emerges can bring them together. The final sequence feels deeply connected, even though the encounters on the street were random.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

HEAD ON Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia (Duologues) 2022 | BBA, group exhibition of Gallery Photography Prize at Kuehlhaus, Berlin, Germany | Street Photography Invitational, group exhibit curated by Paul Kessel & Orestes Gonzalez, Long Island City, USA | BBA, exhibit in a digital showcase at the Berlin Photo Week, Berlin, Germany | PhotoSchweiz, Hasselblad Heroine Selected Photo Exhibition, Zurich, Switzerland LensCulture, 2020/2021 Winners and Juror’s Picks, LensCulture Awards, New York, USA

EDUCATION:

International Center of Photography, New York, NY 2017 | Master of Architecture, UCLA School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Los Angeles, CA 1993 | Bachelor of Fine Arts, The School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL 1990

Nina Welch-Kling lives and works in New York, USA.

“I rarely have a specific subject in mind. I do predetermine the location by time of the day as well as weather. I often return to the same locations in the city - familiar locations help to eliminate some of the variables. Street photography is about being reactive - about accessing a scene in front of you and making it come together in a frame. It helps to know where the light hits the people and how pedestrians move through a scene.”

Interview: