A few questions with photographer P Seth Thompson
Quantum physics and <i>Weird Science</i> inform Thompson’s MFA thesis show
- P Seth Thompson
- “The Apotheosis of Edgar Mitchell”
SCAD MFA student P Seth Thompson embarked on a hero’s journey for his thesis exhibition The Tannhauser Gate, opening Sat., May 19. Thompson, who’s also the curatorial assistant to Michael Rooks, curator of modern and contemporary art at the High Museum, discusses his background and inspiration for the show, including Freddie Krueger, Blade Runner and quantum physics.
What’s your background? How’d you get started making art?
I grew up with a mom as an artist. She worked at the Atlanta College of Art, and so I was constantly around college students and I think it made sense to me rather than the sports route or band route. On top of that, I was always really into fantasy and science fiction and horror films. Those things combined melded into my aesthetic in my photography.
What are some of your favorite horror films?
The one film that started it all for me was Nightmare on Elm Street 3. I saw it in the theater way too young — I was like 7 — and I was terrified at the beginning of the film and I wanted to leave but we didn’t. At the end of it I was just blown away by the whole idea of being a dream warrior and hiding demons in your dreams.
Would you explain the title of your show, “The Tannhauser Gate?”
It’s originally from Blade Runner and there’s a scene that’s, in my opinion, one of the best scenes ever in a film. At the end of the film, one of the characters recites this monologue before he dies and he mentions he’s seen the Tannhauser Gate and he’s referencing stargaze, where you can travel to other star systems, and so for me when I saw that and the combination of the music, the monologue, the acting, the visuals of the whole thing, it was just amazing.
For some reason, I don’t know how I connected it, but I started to think about when I saw the Challenger explosion on TV when I was in first grade, 1986. How that was so impactful because up to that point I understood television to be fake, so anything that existed in television didn’t exist in our world. And when the Challenger exploded, and my teacher was crying, it was so confusing because I didn’t know why she was crying. And then I realized that the explosion actually happened and the people were all dead. So kind of like this metaphor, at that moment this gate opened up between our world and the television and the image.