Gwendolyn Courtney

Emerging Contemporary Photographer and recent MSU graduate, Gwendolyn Courtney, has always been inspired by the ever-questioned relationship between the Past, Present, and the Future. Here, in her “Reclaiming the Past” Personal Vision grand prize winning project, Gwen explores the foundation of her identity in relation to her female ancestors. Paying respect and an uncanny resemblance to her ancestors, she sought out to prove that no matter what generation we live in, we are all related.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Gwendolyn ventured to Bozeman, MT to pursue a BA in Photography at Montana State University in 2008. Throughout the course of her education, Gwendolyn fell in love with photography and like any love, her love evolved and transformed into a beautiful talent. Her patience and understanding of conceptual imagery has helped her capture images that emote her true photographer personality and aesthetic. And in a world that has been made so small by man, Gwendolyn’s use of imagery plays a big part in the dreamer society that we live in today where we as human beings love to dream about what could have been and how this relates to our own lives.

Aside from volunteering for the Society for Photographic Education in San Francisco in 2012 and Assistant Teaching throughout her last two years of her degree, Gwendolyn contributed greatly to many the Photography Program’s exhibits and fundraiser’s such as the Senior Class Photography Thesis Exhibit where she was the head planner of organizer.

Gwendolyn is always working towards gallery shows and plans to move to
Portland, Oregon later in 2013 to pursue a career in the field of photography.