Meet Sara Culler | Photographer and Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sara Culler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I decided to pursue an artistic career when I landed a chronic, potentially terminal health condition. I took a couple of camera, and darkroom technique classes for black and white analog photography back in Sweden in my late teens, but never took it to the next level. Then, 20+ years later, photography made a re-entry in my grownup life when I was diagnosed with a chronic, potentially terminal illness that in 2012 forced me to leave my day job. Taking photos became a found-again passion, a re-revelation if you will. Photography has become something to stimulate my mind and keep it away from the negative thought patterns that a life with a chronic illness inevitably creates. Finding beauty in the seemingly mundane becomes a coping mechanism, a tool. Fast forward to 2022. I’m a 44 y/o honor student graduate from the Santa Fe Community College School Of Art And Design’s graphic design certificate program, aiming towards a four-year degree in graphic design, in the current state working on my associate degree in Media Arts — Graphic Design. Having dabbled in various fields of the arts, and with a background in marketing and management by way of said health challenges, I made the decision to add a field of work to my photography and go back to school, more specifically design school. Turns out, I am great at it! So great I have held a 4.0 GPA throughout my program time, made the Dean’s List twice, received two major scholarships, and landed a lifetime membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

My journey has been anything but easy. A US citizen born in Malmö, Sweden. Moved to the US at an early age where I spent most of my formative years. My parents divorced and I moved back to Sweden where I lived in poverty off and on, and in general, had a very hard time for the almost 30 years I lived there. Connections aren’t always defined by roots, genetics, and even birth! I had a connection to this land and longed for almost 30 years to come back here. In 2009 I did it, together with my ex-husband and then 16-year-old cat. However I got sick in 2012 and that set me on a decades-long dark, scary, and lonely path to reclaiming my health. My last real paycheck was in 2012, and GoFundMe has been my income since the start of fundraising in 2014… Needless to say, my school is my dream right now. To reclaim my self-sustainability.

I’ve always loved photography and as I wrote earlier, I took some black and white film/darkroom technique classes in high school in Sweden. When I got sick it became my looking glass to a less dark, and more beautiful world… I started with flowers and bugs, more macro… Then abstract architecture became dominant. I also loved shooting imagery that told the American story. Things that draw parallels to The New Topographics Movement, for instance. Additionally — This summer of 2022 I also expanded my photography to include alternative photographic processes like cyanotypes, argyrotypes, vandykes, and silver gelatin prints. Moreover — My graphic design is all-consuming as well. I love my work. Anything from free artistic creations to precise and concise directive. I love getting lost on pixel level and zooming in and out of both of those worlds. Please see my website for all the work!

www.saraculler.com

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Santa Fe — Nature including desert and alpine sides with or without lakes, rivers or hot springs, Lost Padre Records, Leaf and Hive Brewlab, Honeymoon Brewery, Meow Wolf, Ten Thousand Waves, Ojo Caliente, Ojo Santa Fe, La Reina Mezcal Bar, Tumbleroot Brewery, Jean Cocteau Theatre. Albuquerque — The Sawmill Foodcourt, Luna and Luz, Spurline Supply Company, Box Road, Modities, Hot Yoga Downtown, Sweat Yoga, Nirguna Yoga.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Website: www.saraculler.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/saraculler

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/saraculler1978

Twitter: @Sara_Culler

Other: Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/saraculler/

Image Credits
All images are credited to me. Avant Garde Squared (2022) — Typographic and geometric argyrotype over cyanotype on cotton rag sheet paper. Creative Loneliness (2021) — Digital Collage/Composite, Adobe Photoshop. Albuquerque Alley (2022) — Digital Photograph, Canon D80.