{"id":10023344,"date":"2026-02-16T15:39:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/in-another-form\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:49:22","slug":"art-interview-photographer-ryan-james-caruthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/art-interview-photographer-ryan-james-caruthers\/","title":{"rendered":"In a different form"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview Dzenana MUJADZIC | Photography Ryan James Caruthers<\/p>\n

In his first monograph, \u00bbI Thought That I Would Be in Heaven But I Am Only Up a Tree<\/a>\u00ab, photographer Ryan James Caruthers<\/a> explores the landscape as a queer space of experience\u2014one in which personal identity dissolves and unfolds within the boundless possibilities of nature<\/a>. Through his work, Caruthers creates a poetically melancholic visual world that coalesces into an emotionally resonant body of work.<\/p>\n

Chapter <\/em>You\u2019ve described nature as a place of refuge during your childhood\u2014a space where queerness could exist without constraint. How did you approach translating that felt sense of freedom into the language of photography, where identity<\/a> in your images seems to dissolve into landscape?<\/p>\n

Ryan James Caruthers<\/em> When I first started making these images, I wasn\u2019t sure of the exact path or the reasoning, it was more a sense of exploration, going out into the landscape to create without the idea of what exactly I was looking to find\u2014if anything. It probably wasn\u2019t until halfway into my project that it started to click. I realized that the work was resonating at a level that felt almost intrinsic, as if the images were part of me. I think a lot of the reasoning comes after, but the deep hues and painterly quality of the images likely come from my memory of how I encountered these places as a child, or how I felt this grand sense of awe\u2014these encapsulated scenes of verdancy.<\/p>\n

\"Monograph<\/p>\n

Chapter <\/em>In his essay for the book, writer and poet Ocean Vuong<\/a> suggests that your work transforms the landscape into a space of boyish mysticism and queer possibility. His words seem to move through your images as much as your images move through his language. What did you recognize in his writing that felt deeply connected to your own way of seeing?<\/p>\n

Ryan James Caruthers <\/em>Ocean is, without doubt, one of the greats. The theme of otherness is woven through much of his work, and it\u2019s something that deeply resonated with me\u2014and, of course, is connected to the nature of the project. I think being queer, being an outsider\u2014this is how most of us felt growing up, that we were looking for a sense of serenity or safety in a world that maybe didn\u2019t yet understand us. I am grateful that he was able to articulate my images into words; his understanding is so deep and profound.<\/p>\n

\"Monograph<\/p>\n

Chapter <\/em>You\u2019ve spoken of Caspar David Friedrich\u2019s \u00bbThe Monk by the Sea\u00ab as an influence\u2014a figure surrendering to something vast and unknowable. What does surrender mean to you\u2014personally and\/or as an artist?<\/p>\n

Ryan James Caruthers<\/em> \u00bbThe Monk by the Sea\u00ab wasn\u2019t an immediate reference from the beginning, but it crept up on me sometime throughout the project. I had seen the painting in a book years before, and it must have been living somewhere in my consciousness. There is surrender in allowing yourself to be completely vulnerable and to create at a level that is deeply connected to your roots and consciousness. I\u2019m not too sure if there is separation between the art and the person\u2014to me, they\u2019re quite interlinked. The surrender is what makes us human.<\/p>\n

\"Monograph<\/p>\n

Chapter <\/em>What do you find yourself returning to when you need to feel inspired?<\/p>\n

Ryan James Caruthers <\/em>There are a few: I\u2019m an avid collector of books\u2014photography, art, interiors\u2014which provide constant inspiration. Listening to others talk about their own paths and the way they move through the world. I always go back to Nina Simone\u2019s rendition of \u00bbWild Is the Wind\u00ab\u2014her words, her pauses, the sweeping sound of the piano. It all feels so resonant\u2014the mourning, the longing, the act of crying out to someone or something that is no longer there but still holds so much space in you. Nothing can beat it.<\/p>\n

FIRST PUBLISHED IN CHAPTER \u2116XIII \u00bbIDENTITY\u00ab<\/a> \u2014 WINTER 2025\/26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview Dzenana MUJADZIC | Photography Ryan James Caruthers In his first monograph, \u00bbI Thought That I Would Be in Heaven But I Am Only Up a Tree\u00ab, photographer Ryan James Caruthers explores the landscape as a queer space of experience\u2014one in which personal identity dissolves and unfolds within the boundless possibilities of nature. Through his work, Caruthers creates a poetically melancholic visual world that coalesces into an emotionally resonant body of work. Chapter You\u2019ve described nature as a place of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10023342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[534,351,348],"tags":[388,346],"class_list":["post-10023344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-culture","category-latest","tag-photography","tag-portfolio-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10023344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10023344"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10023344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10023347,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10023344\/revisions\/10023347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10023342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10023344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10023344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10023344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}