Natalie Christensen: Deconstructed Self
SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Gannett Gallery presents Deconstructed Self, a solo exhibition by photographer Natalie Christensen, whose practice bridges Santa Fe, New Mexico and Louisville, Kentucky.
Christensen, known for minimalist frames and charged color fields, brings a psychologist’s attention to the built world. Before committing to photography full-time, she spent more than 25 years as a psychotherapist, and her work is deeply informed by Carl Jung’s ideas about symbols and the unconscious. In Deconstructed Self, planes of color, crisp shadows, and pared-back geometry function like clues, pulling viewers toward the undercurrents of everyday places—what’s felt but not easily named.
Rather than chasing the spectacular, Christensen gravitates to the ordinary: strip-mall facades, apartment corridors, office parks. Doors ajar or sealed shut, vacant lots, drained pools—these are her recurring prompts. By stripping away context, she invites us to linger in the uneasy space between what we see and what we sense: hints of repression, latent desire, ambient dread. The series asks how interior life rubs up against the constructed environment and how memory edits the scene.
“As you move through these photographs,” notes a Gannett Gallery representative, “you start noticing your own projections. The work slows you down and makes the familiar feel newly charged.”
Christensen’s images have appeared widely, with features in Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Observer, The British Journal of Photography, and Creative Boom, alongside exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad.
About the Author
Natalie Christensen (Santa Fe, New Mexico / Louisville, Kentucky) is a photographer recognized for her minimalist images of ordinary suburban landscapes. After a 25-year career as a psychotherapist, she shifted her focus to photography, drawing on her background in psychology and the influence of Carl Jung to explore symbols, tension, and hidden narratives in the built environment.
Her work has been widely exhibited in the U.S. and internationally, and featured in publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, The British Journal of Photography, Creative Boom, and Aesthetica Magazine. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Château d’Orquevaux (France), guest lectured at the Royal College of Art, and led workshops at the Royal Photographic Society, London, and Meow Wolf, Santa Fe. Her photobook 007 – Natalie Christensen was published by Setanta Books, London.
Christensen is represented by Catherine et André Hug Galerie (Paris), Turner Carroll Gallery (Santa Fe), Nordic Art Agency (Malmö), and Susan Spiritus Gallery (Newport Beach).
Natalie Christensen: Deconstructed Self
August 20–October 3, 2025
Gannett Gallery, SUNY Polytechnic Institute – New York
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