Photographer Female Pentimento is helping the internet access new worlds

Female Pentimento isn’t too picky about where they shoot. They, like so many artists today, eschew the idea that creativity requires grand environments and great stretches of time spent chiselling away. Rather, she prefers to take the now-famous David Lynch approach of “chicken and broccoli with a little soy sauce”; by relying on set rituals and creative habits, Female finds a structured way to create, dabbling on projects for an hour a day, usually in the evenings. They take photographs simply wherever nature can be found, like a suburban area of Westchester, near their partner’s parents’ house.

From that everyday grounding, artist and photographer Female Pentimento, or Nathaniel – who lives in Brooklyn and works as a designer by day – interacts with matters of heaven and earth, life, death, spirituality and science fiction. She describes her images as “portals” to inhabit new worlds and, housed on Instagram, that is what they offer over half a million people who follow Nathaniel on the platform. Some are images that are hard to sit within, showing the world folding in on itself from ecological collapse, meteorites or forest fires. But others offer moments of overpowering beauty; the skies open, animals emit light and clouds are filled with a gentle celestial presence.

Considering the hopeful manner in which they create, this can be hard for them to reconcile with. “Sometimes I’ll create things and it can actually be quite upsetting. And it’s hard for me sometimes to make it or even share it in any capacity because I [think] oh, gosh, is this an image that I want to disseminate in the world?” This is particularly true when you account for the online nature of what Nathaniel has built. “I think it’s a bit of a blessing and a curse, when you have an audience that is kind of entranced or devoted to a specific aspect of what you create.”

Here is where the format of Female Pentimento as an unfixed presence pays dividends – despite the personal nature of what Nathaniel creates, it exists in a space slightly removed from them. “I think having a kind of a moniker or a stage name is really valuable because it de-emphasises the person behind the work.”

Plus, the toss up between light and dark is of the utmost importance to Nathaniel’s images; shying away from “the pernicious” to favour “the divine” isn’t an option. “I think in some ways as artists and creatives we have to be a little bit courageous and like, be willing to be scared and be afraid to traverse into the unknown.” She often finds herself returning to a Rick Rubin book, “he talks a lot about this idea that the audience shouldn’t be a consideration, I think that’s a good creative centre for me when thinking about the external pressures that exist outside of what I think I do”.

Though, that is not to say Nathaniel’s work doesn’t engage directly with audiences. Just as they view the internet as an “unfettered” place to explore, Nathaniel has also used it to create a space that communicates directly with others. The nurturing words that accompany Nathaniel’s images draw frequently from mindfulness traditions, for example. A glance through this article will give readers an idea of these mantras and how they might be able to be used by others, particularly when paired with such curious images.

As for Nathaniel, they continue to live as close as they can by that same code of mindfulness found in the Female Pentimento world. In my conversation with the artist, she discusses how she’s recently completed a vision board, to ground herself for the year ahead. It is one she shares with her friends and completes as part of her ritualistic, broccoli-and-a-little-soy-sauce approach to creativity. One thing they want to prioritise this year is community – “I’m hoping my creative practice can somehow help orchestrate or facilitate that.” It’s a perfect example of how Nathaniel’s work, while confronting large seemingly abstract themes, is grounded in the tangible – in how we see ourselves and the world around us.