Pine Tree Ballads is a poetic vision of land, family, and time.

A small farmhouse on Gray’s Point is surrounded by a dark forest of ancient pines struggling against the incessant nor’easter gusts of the Atlantic ocean. History creaks in the swaying limbs of this land where generations of my family have discovered moments of wisdom, adventure, fear, and the miraculous. In this place, stories have arisen from the mouths of both the young and old that over time have become the essence of my family’s identity. Pine Tree Ballads offers one of many poetic interpretations of my experience on this homestead. It is a unique memoir weaving the magical aura of an ancient, shared, historical record with the mysterious dreams met on dark moonless nights when one does not know if their eyes are open or closed.

Paul Thulin is the recipient of the 3rd Annual Conveyor Grant.

Paul Thulin uses analog photography, digital montage, appropriation, and various alternative materials, to explore the contextual and material constructs of history, cultural identity, consumerism, memory, and myth. He is represented by Modernbook Gallery in San Francisco, California, and ADA Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. His photographs have also been exhibited nationally and internationally at United Photo Industries NYC, Miami Scope, Candela Gallery, Chicago Art Fair, and the Toronto Art Fair.

Thulin has been the recipient of a variety of photographic prizes and awards including a 2001 TPI National Graduate Fellowship, a 2006 Virginia Commission for the Arts Artist Fellowship, and the 2013 Conveyor Magazine Exhibition Grant. In addition, he has worked on curatorial projects related to local non profit art organizations such as 1708 Gallery and Washington Project for the Arts.

He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia and works as the Graduate Director of the Department of Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University.