Nate Larson

Work samples

Selections from On Montegiovi, 2022

Selections from On Montegiovi, 2022
Site of the Former Shoe Company, De Soto, Missouri, 2017

Site of the Former Shoe Company, De Soto, Missouri, 2017
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022

Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022

About Nate

I am a Baltimore-based contemporary artist and documentarian working with photographic media, artist books, site-responsive installations, and time-based media. My projects have been widely exhibited across the US and internationally as well as featured in numerous publications and media outlets, including Wired, The Guardian, The Picture Show from NPR, Slate, CNN, Hyperallergic, Gizmodo, Buzzfeed News, Vice Magazine, the New York Times, Utne Reader, Hotshoe Magazine, Flavorwire, the BBC News… more

View Nate's Resume

On Montegiovi (2022)

On Montegiovi (2022)

In my artistic practice, I create site-responsive portraits of communities and examine contemporary identity in both physical and digital spaces. My work as an artist strives to illuminate the peculiarities of contemporary culture and to create a record of the historical complexities of the times in which we live.

In August 2022, I was an artist-in-residence in the rural Tuscan village of Montegiovi, Italy. Having made photographs extensively in small towns in the rural United States, I wondered how the context of my practice would shift in a rural community in a new country and culture? Montegiovi currently has 172 residents, down from a peak population of around 1,000 people. I spent my month learning about the history of the village, working collaboratively to make portraits with community members, and documenting the vast and changing landscape.

I wish to gratefully acknowledge Cultivate Projects, Samuele Pii, Madeleine Keller, Joe Giordano, Valentina Peruzzi, Susan Main, and the community of Montegiovi that welcomed me into their lives. The project will be exhibited at the Villa Clara Cultural Center in Montegiovi in 2025.

View from Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Alessandro in the Workshop, Castel Del Piano, Italy, 2022
Serena and Giovanni, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Gigi, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Irene, Lorenzo, and Zina, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Dario, Primo, and Marta on the Ranch, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Chestnut, Santa Fiora, Italy, 2022
Giancarlo, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Angela and Mother, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022
Chiesa San Rocco - Santa Elena, Montegiovi, Italy, 2022

Centroid Towns (2014 - present)

Centroid Towns (2014 - present)

Centroid Towns is an anthology documentary project studying the twenty-five cities that have been the mean center of population of the United States using photography, oral history interviews, and local archive research. The project puts a face to statistical data, chronicling these towns and their inhabitants to illuminate the ongoing social and political transformation of America. The chapters in the project completed to date examine the environmental impact of overdevelopment, historical legacies of colonial settlers, the changing face of industrial manufacturing, the evolution of American Christianity, economic pressures created by multinational corporations on small business, and civic engagement in small towns. Selections from this project have been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art in Maryland, Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art in Virginia, the Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art in Georgia, and the VHS-Stuttgart Photogallery in Germany.

Empire Quarry, Site of the Empire State Building Extraction, near Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Mill Worker, Empire Quarry, near Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Michael's Letters from his Incarcerated Father, Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Lenja and Elizabeth, Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Ross, at the Bloomington Catholic Worker, Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Regiment Von Huyn Breaching, Waterford, Virginia, 2019
Janelle, in the Pierpoint House, Waterford, Virginia, 2019
Laura's Silhouette Tracing, Waterford, Virginia, 2019
Patriotic Dollar General, Olney, Illinois, 2017
Sue and Sunshine at the Travelers Inn Motel, Olney, Illinois, 2016

Centroid Towns (2014 - present)

Griffy Water Treatment Plant (Drain the Swamp), Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Mike, at his Subsidized Studio Apartment, Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Rachelle after Incarceration, with daughter Mya, Bloomington, Indiana, 2019
Simulated Window, Moll Funeral Home, Mascoutah, Illinois, 2017
Juanita at the Frozen Foods Shop, De Soto, Missouri, 2017
Site of the Former Shoe Company, De Soto, Missouri, 2017

Site of the Former Shoe Company, De Soto, Missouri, 2017
The Citizens of Hillsboro Warn You!, Hillsboro, Ohio, 2019
Indiana State Police Post #33, Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
Think American, Speak English, near Hartville, Missouri, 2016
Pearl Harbor Reenactment, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, 2017

Commodore Photo Collaborative (2021 - 2022)

Commodore Photo Collaborative (2021 - 2022)

In the 2021-2022 academic year, the Commodore Photo Collaborative came together to document the impact of the late-stage COVID-19 pandemic at Commodore John Rodgers in East Baltimore. CJR is a Baltimore City Public School serving grades PreK-8. Aylin Cerezo, Destiny DeChamps, Lola Jones-Carter, and Glori Mahammitt worked with mentor and photographer Nate Larson, borrowing cameras for the year to document the school community. We made photographs both separately and together, and come together weekly to discuss the nature of photographs, composition and technique, as well as what it means to make a portrait of a community. The artist book contains a selection of 32 photographs from the 3,685 photographs made over the course of the academic year. Thank you to the Commodore John Rodgers community for your trust. Special thanks to Michael Rennard, the CJR Gifted & Advanced Learning Coordinator, and the CJR administration for facilitating our collaboration.

Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022

Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022
Selections from the Commodore Photo Collective Artist Book, 2022

Baltimore Portraits (2015 - 2022)

Baltimore Portraits (2015 - 2022)

For seven years, I worked in collaboration with Jubilee Arts to make portraits of Baltimore City youth. Jubilee Arts is a non-profit that provides arts classes and other services to the residents of the Sandtown-Winchester, Upton, and surrounding neighborhoods. The portraits come out of conversations, sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly, sometimes planned and sometimes spontaneous. As I photograph, the images downloaded from my high-resolution camera to my linked phone, which is shared with the youth as we discuss the nature of the representation. The youth frequently share the photographs to their own devices and social platforms. This body of work is a part of an ongoing long-term engagement with the neighborhoods and communities that make up my city. Creation of these photographs is made possible, in part, by a Rubys Artist Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. I wish to gratefully acknowledge Nora Howell and the Jubilee Arts community for their trust and collaboration over the years.