BIO

Kirsten Murphy

I am fascinated by absurdity. It is a pressure valve, a creative engine, and a worldview all at once. For me, absurdity lives in the half‑truths we tell — the uneasy space between fact and fiction. It emerges not only from what we believe, but from the ways we express those beliefs.

I was born and raised in Vancouver and have called Yellowknife, NT, home for 25 years. I have an Advanced Practices certificate from the International Centre of Photography (ICP) in New York and a Sociology degree from UBC. Symbolic interactionism taught me that people create meaning through gestures, routines and shared symbols. My work aligns with these theories. I look at the actions and artifacts that give meaning to our lives. This perspective connects my practice to a long history of photographers who use observation, ritual, and materials to study social life — from early documentary work to contemporary cameraless and process‑driven approaches.

I spent much of my career working as a journalist and producer for CBC. During my freelance years, I worked as a flight attendant, front desk clerk, and landscaper. These jobs allowed me to meet people and experience events I could have otherwise only imagined. Stepping into unfamiliar territory shapes how I understand human behaviour and the stories we tell about ourselves.

I think a lot about how people communicate, and how certain forms of communication quietly disappear over time —such as letter writing and landlines. As these habits fade, I’m drawn to the ways older and newer technologies overlap, creating unexpected forms of connection.

My work spans digital images, archival film, and alternative photographic practices such as cyanotypes and anthotypes. These processes often appear as individual practices rather than unified multimedia pieces, allowing each method to speak its own visual language. My love of absurdity shapes how I approach these materials and is a portal to how images hold memory, tension, and contradiction.