We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Seth Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Seth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My artistic practice has taken on a whole new context after a near-death experience in 2019. That was my last failed attempt at taking my life, which may sound grim, but since then the work I have focused on has centered around the lifestyle changes I have had to make. These changes manifest in the form of spiritual practice and compassion toward others. Using spiritual principles as the foundation of my work has allowed for an inexhaustible creativity in my approach to art and photography. Through this, I have explored abstracting the photograph, the materiality of the photographic print, and creating an ineffable experience for the viewer through gallery installations, all of which can be found on my website, www.sjonesthompson.com.

Seth, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I became interested in photography through my high school photography teacher, Ms. Wolfgang. For our first assignment, she had us create pinhole cameras, and I was hooked from the moment the negative appeared under the red light of the school darkroom. She was also the first person who encouraged and accepted me in all of my weirdness, which has inspired me to help others as she helped me.

I currently work at the photo studio at the Savannah College of Art and Design, helping people solve questions that arise with studio lighting and photographic equipment. I also hold multiple workshops each year, teaching others how to create their own black-and-white darkroom and develop their own film,something that could be considered unique in the saturation of digital and AI-generated images within the photography industry.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I don’t believe my mission is extraordinary in the grand scheme of other artists within the context of art history, but the idea of spirituality has been widely marginalized in scholarly studies from modern art to the present. Authors such as Leesa Fanning (Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art) and Dr. Erika Doss (Spiritual Moderns) have made tremendous headway in discussing spirituality in art over the past 100 years. I would like my work, both artistic and scholarly, to further this discussion and bring greater attention to spiritual artistic practices for those who may be interested.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As an artist, the only lesson worth learning is to unlearn everything and know nothing. Approaching every new project and situation with a beginner’s mind brings enthusiasm and intrigue to each endeavor and prevents the work from becoming old hat. Knowing that you know nothing makes everything in life worth learning.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sjonesthompson.com
• Instagram: @sjonesthompson
• Youtube: @ArtHistoryWHOCARES-sd7gi

Image Credits

All images ©Seth Jones Thompson