NICOLE KATANO

My work brings me close to nature: I grow the plants, most often from seed, then photograph them at various points in their cycle, and finally combine single images into many-layered compositions. I look for the slightest variations of light, experience and emotion. My pictures are best understood on a sensual, nonlinear level. I use memory, scale, and the physical world to encourage a nonverbal experience and allow the viewer to feel, and thereby access, the subtle, emotional aspects of life.

When I'm shooting, everything else drops away and I am happy, peaceful and completely present. I feel hopeful because I know my plants will be there for me and that nature will always rebound, one way or another. But it is also distressing to experience climate change firsthand with the wildfires. Indigenous peoples lived in harmony and respect with nature and wildlife for thousands of years. But now that balance has been destroyed.

Nicole Katano is a photographic artist currently based in Sonoma, CA. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and her Masters in Ceramics from San Francisco State University. Nicole has exhibited her work in Los Angeles, Nashville, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Sonoma, Healdsburg, San Diego and Atlanta, to date, and was featured, along with her husband, the painter, Marc Katano, at The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in a joint exhibition entitled, Akin: the Art of Nicole and Marc Katano. Her last solo show titled, Intangible, was at Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross, CA.