Mike Vos

Artist Statement

My name is Mike Vos and I’m a photographer, visual artist and musician from Portland, OR. I utilize my 4x5 film camera in traditional and experimental ways to immerse viewers in a magical realist narrative about a world where nature has regrown and thrives. These images are from a series titled “A Thin Wall of Vellum” and are made using in-camera double exposures. None of the blending is done using digital manipulation or in post production; everything happens directly onto the film within the confines of the camera.

Drawing from literary themes such as magical realism, surrealism and parallel timelines, I’m constantly looking for ways to push the capabilities of analog photography in service of immersive and layered visual narratives. My projects all exist within a shared fictional universe; all threads stemming from one overarching story.

Traditional landscape photography lacks the ability to fully translate the complex emotions that come when viewing places firsthand that are ancient, beautiful, and strange. Much like other mediums that produce variant adaptations of the same subject matter, I interpret landscapes into ethereal and otherworldly dreamscapes to capture the awe and wonder that exists in the natural world.

I began A Thin Wall of Vellum during an artist residency in Iceland in June of 2022. This work was inspired by Iceland’s surreal landscape, the paintings of Jóhannes Kjarval, the poetry of Steinn Steinarr and the Icelandic Sagas. Geographically Iceland is an incredibly strange place, and it lent itself to a magical realist narrative about two worlds separated by a thin wall of vellum-like material. In this story those worlds are sometimes at odds with each other philosophically, but always harmonious aesthetically. 

This series will continue in Iceland in Summer 2023 with the help of an artist residency with the Akureyri Art Museum, Bær Arts and generous funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Mike Vos | Portland, OR

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