Pat
Martin
Pat Martin is an American photographer, based in Los Angeles, California, mainly working in the field of portraiture. At the age of seventeen, his home life was turned upside down when his family was evicted from their apartment, separating them for three years due to events that followed. Since then, he sees the present as an opportunity to build upon an empty family album, while finding new connections through portraiture. The past five years have been devoted to his family work, understanding the importance of time, and building a new narrative.
In 2019 he won the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize for portraits of his late mother, which were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London the same year. In 2020, Pat Martin was selected as Foam Talent.
visible in
Foam Talent 2020
In 2020, Pat Martin was one of the twenty selected artists for Foam Talent, the annual open call for young photographic talent.
In his series Family Album, Pat Martin uses photography, specifically portrait photography, as a tool to rebuild the relationship with his mother and family. The project started after Pat and his brother discovered old, mouldy and incomplete family albums documenting their family life before it abruptly stopped when Pat was seventeen.
The warm tones and soft colours of his portraits beautifully visualise his cathartic endeavour.