One no one and one hundred thousand / druk 1

After living in a motorhome in the Salton Sea, Nicholas Albrecht

questions the notion of being an insider through this intimate

journey of discovery. Deserts are strange spaces in Western culture;

we don't really know how to be in them. There was the biblical

version of the desert, the desert as a metaphor for isolation,

asceticism, temptation, and death. In an attempt to document the

experience of living in the Salton Sea, Albrecht breaks down these

conventions to narrate his story. The photographs become symbolic

representations of the people and the place. The truth is both vague

and concrete as thoughts transform into reality. Similarly to how

dreams are constructed, One, No One and One Hundred Thousand is

a chaotic representation of life, identifying with one and its opposite.

Nicholas Albrecht was born in

Naples, Italy in 1982. His involvement

with the arts began while studying

fashion in Milan. Upon graduation he

started working as an Art Director for

three venues in Naples and Rome.

During his years as an Art Director in

Italy, Nicholas had the chance to work

with students and professors from the

Academy of Fine Arts in Naples.

His close relationship with Ludovica

Rambelli and her continuous theatrical

research inspired him to research

more of his own interests. He started

using photography as a research tool,

which ultimately pushed him to

continue his studies and relocated him

to San Francisco. There he earned an

MFA in Photography and developed a

close relationship with the medium.

In his work, Nicholas concentrates on

the connection between individual and

land and, in a greater context, how that

influences social relations and notions

of self. In 2012, Nicholas was awarded

the Our World Portfolio Review

scholarship and was selected to be

part of the prestigious 100 attending

the Santa Fe Portfolio Review.

Magical Thinking is a not-for-profit publishing and educational

initiative founded by Joshua Lutz and Tara Cronin in 2010. Its

commitment to furthering our understanding of the importance of how

images function revolves around a programme of books, exhibitions

and educational workshops.