Julie Blackmon

Night Swim

2021

Award-winning photographer Julie Blackmon draws inspiration from 17th-century painters. In a very playful way, the American artist makes images that are both autobiographical and fictional, introducing playful updates to the scenes of rowdy tavern interiors that Flemish and Dutch artists created centuries ago with the chaotic situations that family life can bring to the fore. 

Blackmon was born in Springfield, Missouri. She studied at Missouri State University, where she discovered her passion for photography through the works of Sally Mann and Diane Arbus. She didn't formally return to photography until many years later — as a mother of three — and for much of her initial work, Blackmon found compelling subject matter in her very own living room. 

Blackmon’s first major series "Mind Games" won an honorable mention in a 2004 competition at the Santa Fe Center for Photography, as well as an award from the Society of Contemporary Photography in Kansas City, Missouri.

From there, Blackmon's career gained considerable traction. She followed up her inaugural series — which comprised black and white documentary images — with a full-color series that depicted both imagined and realistic domestic situations within the home. Blackmon continued working primarily in color, exploring new scenarios and framing cinematic conceptual shots in hayfields, parking lots and neighbors’ backyards.

Blackmon has exhibited at galleries all over the United States. Her work is held in many public and private collections including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Microsoft Art Collection in Washington and the Fotografiska Museum in New York City. 

Find original Julie Blackmon photography on 1stDibs.