Member Spotlight: Bailey Quinlan
Can you share a bit about your background and what sparked your passion for photography?
I’ve always been a creative- whether it be dance, theater, visual arts, music. It was always the thing I gravitated towards. I was a curious kid and an Independent thinker - I questioned everything, and made no assumptions/had no specific vision for my future. I just knew it needed to be me leading it.
My grandparents were two people who fostered in me a love for creating and expressing myself- my grandfather I didn’t get a chance to know in a physical sense, but I know him from his art. He was a musician, wood worker and draftsman that could draw literally anything from his mind’s eye. My grandmother was a painter, gardener, and craftsperson. She loved music, theater, and the “finer” things in life. She also warned me not to pursue my passion as my career; I think I know what she means now. It’s a challenge, but to me it’s been worth it. I’m glad I disobeyed her- and it’s something she’s probably proud of me for doing.
I decided to go to art school because nothing else really resonated with me. In another life I persued environmental science. It’s not something I’ve decided against doing in my lifetime, but it would require going back to school in order to inform my art practice and be made to feel like I can facilitate more substantial change in that regard.
I studied a variety of media in college- jewelry, painting, drawing, printmaking, performance, and eventually junior year randomly took a photography class. Everything finally clicked- the immediate gratification of an exposure, the observance of the everyday, the storytelling, the implied indexicality (aka “the truth”), how ubiquitous and relatable it is, the vast applications of it, the way it preserves/defines memory, the way it allows me to be present- and it’s still my primary medium of choice to this day.
How did you first come across CMC, and what drew you to become a part of this collective?
The things I miss the most about art school were community, constructive critique, and workshopping/seeing fresh ideas and new work all the time. Once I graduated, I felt like a fish out of water and had no idea how to build community organically & intentionally. I struggled to sustain my own art practice and artistic community where I was living in Boston, drowned by the pressures of survival and capitalism. I eventually started my own commercial photography business which kept me closer to my craft; and I began shooting my own personal projects again. I finally moved to Brooklyn, where I’ve begun to truly build community. For the first time since school I saw myself surrounded my artists & creatives- some I reconnected with from my past, and others I met and added to my growing network. After COVID, I began occasionally hosting a group of artists/creatives at my apartment to share/discuss our work. I also began participating in portfolio reviews, one of which was in Santa Fe where I met Judyta - one of your members. I joined thereafter and have come to every CMC critique that I can!
The group has a variety of interests and skill sets, and I think is strong for that reason- it’s a group effort to sustain. Everyone comes to it with an open mind and a warm heart; we’re all there to make each other’s art better, and to encourage ourselves to persist with the creative pursuit of the moment. I’m grateful & humbled to be a member of the group, and so excited to be a part of the 10-year group show!
Is there a particular theme or subject that captivates you the most in your photography? If so, what is it, and what draws you to it? If not, what do you typically focus on in your work, and why?
The guiding principal in my photography is telling stories and memorializing events I think are important- whether than be preserving family history or cataloguing sites of trauma across the American landscape. It’s so as to not forget.
The images I tend to create are resonant and imbued with meaning. Visually, I’m drawn to texture, color, and composition.
Could you share 3-5 images from your most recent project or photo series? We'd love to hear the story behind these works and what inspired the project.
I’ve attached 5 images from a new project I’m working on about my dad- “give a man an inch and he thinks he’s a ruler.” My dad and I are very different. He’s an engineer. I’m an artist. He’s a life-long republican that only watches Fox News. I am a social & environmental justice activist that thinks we need a progressive political party. But the deeper I understand myself, and the more I realize we’re the same. We’re just as stubborn, and just as committed to our projects. I got my workaholism from him. I see his tendencies of avoidance, emotional withdrawal, alcoholism, procrastination, and hoarding, as symptoms of anxiety and depression. I’ve found that living with compassion is much healthier than harboring resentment.
This curiosity led to me exploring his ideosychrocies through this project. The closer I look at him, the more I see someone in need of help. Even if he never understands why, I love him.
