Exploring the Inner Landscape: Laurie Victor Kay’s Pathos and Apothecary
Laurie Victor Kay, a lens-based artist known for her kaleidoscopic approach to photography and mixed media, invites viewers into a deeply personal space with her latest works.
Moving from her renowned portraits of iconic figures like Alanis Morissette and Gigi Gorgeous, Laurie has turned her camera inward, offering glimpses into the emotional terrain of her own life. Her projects, Pathos and Apothecary, blend photography, collage, video, and written journal entries, opening a vulnerable dialogue on identity, pain, and the ever-shifting human experience.
Laurie’s journey with photography began at the age of 14 with a Pentax K1000. Initially self-taught, her passion for visual storytelling expanded during her studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There, she explored both painting and photography, ultimately discovering the transformative power of capturing reality through different lenses. As her work matured, her approach evolved. “My journey as an artist has changed because I’ve changed,” she reflects, describing how personal growth and struggles have increasingly influenced her work.
Her recent projects dive into these personal evolutions, particularly through her use of autobiographical elements—journals, prescriptions, and personal objects—as artistic mediums. “Journal writing has been very important for me for a very long time,” Laurie shares. “It’s almost sacred… capturing the writing in a photograph intrigued me.” She examines how even the simplest artifacts, such as a tube of French wrinkle cream or a prescription pill bottle, carry layers of meaning. These items, transformed by the camera’s lens, embody narratives of self-discovery, resilience, and complexity.
Pathos and Apothecary, her current series, are direct results of a period marked by personal trials. Apothecary, in particular, has been an evolving work. Laurie explains, “The pills become about something else: code and chemistry and change. They are secrets. They are narratives that I’m writing even in the prescriptions.” By placing these symbols of the everyday and the intimate into an artistic framework, she reframes objects of private pain into conduits for collective reflection.
While she continues to take on commercial projects, balancing this work with her conceptual series is challenging. The clarity and polish of commercial photography have informed her style, yet Laurie emphasizes the need for creative freedom in her personal work, which feels essential to her identity. “Apothecary and Pathos were created out of a time of personal tribulation, and I’m so proud to have come through that time,” she explains. These projects, born from vulnerability and courage, represent her truth and her growth.
Your work often combines photography with other mediums like painting and collage. What motivates you to blend these different forms of expression?
What I love about this question is that it encompasses exactly who I am as an artist. I’ve always seen myself as an artist first. I am motivated to blur lines because I feel that is where some of the most interesting work happens. My creative expression asks me for so many different things: from the singular image to repetition used to de-identify to symmetrical compositions to balance chaos of my internal world. My background was originally in painting and drawing. It seems natural now to want to incorporate these practices into a new type of work with layers of photography and even digital drawing. I think of collage as a natural way to dissect different ideas and add different layers into my work that can create elements of depth or a framework for a new type of understanding.
What inspired you to focus on trees as a subject in your photography, and what do they represent for you? Can you share any memorable experiences or locations that particularly influenced the Trees series?
I think the first inspiration of trees for me began around the time I started traveling to Paris more regularly in the early 2000s. Seeing the formal gardens and the formal trees there really overwhelmed me. I have always been drawn to nature. I escape when I’m photographing trees because I am so connected and also disconnected from the world.
One very memorable experience that I had recently was a two hour drive I took one summer morning in the south of France to get to St. Tropez. It was raining. After I pulled up to the area, got out my camera, and started walking, the rain was now only softly drizzling. I looked over into this field and I was suddenly greeted by two white horses. I had photographed there before, but I had never seen horses. It felt so mystical. I loved photographing these horses alongside my favorite trees. They looked like unicorns. I’m a person who believes in the universe connecting, and this was one of those moments.
Laurie tell us about some of your upcoming projects?
LVK Atelier. It’s a space where lines blur as I create the studio and imagine new ways of seeing. I’m actively working right now looking through a decades long career of work which has been nearly half my life.
I am thinking about the future. I’ve been through so much in the past year. I lost my mother to a short battle with cancer. I’ve been through seismic personal changes. I feel like my strength from everything I’ve experienced in this past year has given me a newfound energy.
I’m also working on my Apothecary and Pathos series, as well as a few site specific commissions. This month, I’ll be speaking at an event at the University of Nebraska called “Artist Hands as Instrument” sharing about art-making through chronic pain and the power of healing through art.
