Issue 3 Artist Spotlight | Meg Koning
C+B: Tell us about yourself, Meg!
MK: I am a family photographer and also work for a company called Mber Creative doing PR/Marketing that brings home the bacon. When I don't have a camera or laptop in my hand I am usually on Airbnb looking up stays I'll never commit to or exploring outside with my littles and scribbling down poems for my next book.
C+B: How has your relationship with your work changed since you first started creating?
MK: The first year I photographed for Bones of Us it was strictly couples. Today I photograph partners and individuals for these sessions. I think the metaphors of rawness, vulnerability, and imperfect but pure love can be seen throughout the work, no matter who the subject might be. And in each frame I see a little of myself; the work has become a contemporary look at self-portraiture for me.
C+B: Share some details about your process for creating.
MK: I usually dive into my clients' stories and formulate a session based on some symbolism/metaphors that reflect those personal narratives. The sessions can range from one to two hours and there's a lot of hiking, walking, talking, and getting to have this wonderful, full experience. Once we complete the session I usually find some late-night times to edit for a couple of hours, and then much later I narrow down a few images to use in my book.
C+B: What is the one accomplishment you most hope to achieve in your creative career?
MK: I hope to plant small seeds in the hearts and minds of my clients and viewers of the work, so that long after I have put down the camera and pen, these seeds might still be finding fertile soil in the next generation's creative experiences.
Find and support Meg here:
IG: @bonesofus
(Grecia, 25" x 40," silk satin fabric print, ©Meg Koning)
If my work was a meal it would be: Something new, unique, and probably a little heavy! Something you wouldn't indulge in often but something you craved without even knowing you craved it.
I would love to be able to share my work with: Georgia O'Keeffe, and honestly I probably would chicken out and just want to sit with her and let her tell me what she sees when she looked out the window from Ghost Ranch onto the dusty lands of New Mexico. Her personal story and professional work give me so much inspiration as to a woman who created not from a place of ego but a place of need.
If I didn’t work with photography, I would: I would love to write and would probably turn to writing as my outlet. However, I would love to learn how to paint too, and try my hand at that. Photography is so realistic at times that I would much prefer painting what I see in my heart instead, but I have yet to find the skills for that!
My hope for those viewing my work: I wanted to be validated in my own personal relationship, and I had hoped that I might help portray relationships with self and others in this series of work. I felt that there was little that was being put out there in the way of real intimacy and hard-working couples; if you saw a couple in a photo it was most likely the two of them running on the beach or sitting on kitchen counters in their underwear. The relationship seen in these photos did little to reflect me and my own struggles, and frankly none of it I identified with. This is why I hope that Bones of Us is a way to be represented for individuals and partners; that we all see a bit of ourselves and the ones we love in these photographs.
