Amelia Burns

Born in Ithaca NY, Amelia’s work focuses on contemporary Americana, documenting the culture of our present time. Making photographs in nearly every US state, her work speaks to solitude, pain, joy, humor, beauty, and the natural world. She is an artist whose work bridges the gap between the material and the ethereal. Her work is on the edge of understanding. Amelia’s personal quest for spirituality greatly influences the work; her seeking is a part of her process, the result of which is photographs, a reflection of the seeker. Amelia’s practice consists of making images taken on the street, collecting and compiling them, and then re-contextualizing them through diptychs and large-scale analog collages. She is primarily drawn to topiary, fake nature, fake animals, flowers, people, and religious icons. Nature is a major inspiration, along with the interaction between humans and the natural world. My current street photography and collection practice is an accumulation of years of continuous shooting and life experience. Amelia is a collector at her core and compulsively photographs to collect. As she travels from place to place, spotting, composing, and capturing subjects, themes are born. Amelia looks for connections between her pictures to tell stories about culture and humanity. Her goal is cultural commentary through visual poetry.