This series is dedicated to highlighting and celebrating various creatives on our site. Along with this blog post, each creative gets a whole month of dedicated posts on our Instagram and Facebook pages. Connecting people with creatives in a range of media and backgrounds is the crux of Wind Beneath My Wings. So let’s jump in and meet Morgan W. Richie, our first ever Creative of the Month!

Morgan W. Richie: Fine Art Photographer

How we view the world is predominantly constructed by our minds and perceptions of the world around us. Seeing is not always a passive action; seeing can be active, interactive, and construed by our consciousness. When Morgan began exploring Zen practice and Buddhism, she started to deeply explore the interwoven relationship between the mind and its perception of the world through her artwork.

As early as the age of 7, Morgan remembers minding her own mind: she found a journal entry where she wrote about noticing thoughts floating by. At the age of 16, while sitting in her car at a stoplight, she caught herself thinking, “Why can’t I get any space between my thoughts?” Looking back, Morgan sees that she was always inquiring about her own thoughts… she simply hadn’t found a name for the practice yet.

Morgan’s artwork seeks to unravel and question how she sees the world around her. Her photography works in tandem with her Buddhist practice; by exploring how she sees the world through the lens, Morgan further explores the relationship between her thoughts, perceptions, and experiences—and how they relate to reality.

Becoming a Fine Art Photographer

Morgan has been behind the lens for many years. She first picked up a camera for her biology classes in college while doing research, continuing her wildlife photography in her career as a marine biologist. Then she met her mentors, who possessed language for the nebulous ideas she had been exploring since the age of 7 years old. Morgan loved biology and the natural world but knew a piece was missing from her work. Upon meeting her mentors and learning about Zen Buddhism, Morgan understood she had found the missing piece.

Why does Morgan Create?

In radically simplified terms, life’s suffering is caused by delusional thinking, according to Buddhist philosophy. Our minds cause the desire for life or ourselves to be different from what they are, leading to suffering. In her Zen practice, Morgan practices mindfulness, sitting meditations, and training her own mind; Morgan practices Zen so she can become more open to reality and see the world for what it is, rather than what her mind perceives it to be.

This practice is reflected in Morgan’s artwork. Her photography is an extension of her spiritual practice, as she uses her lens to explore the world around her. By practicing mindfulness and awareness, Morgan can see those resonant moments that deeply connect to something more profound than the thinking mind can grasp. In those moments, Morgan pulls out her camera. For Morgan, photography is not about creating an image of what she’d like something to be but striving to capture something for precisely what it is.

Capturing and Reflecting How We See the World

Photography can elicit emotions we don’t always fully comprehend, like poetry and other visual media. Visual arts also speak to us, often on a deeper level than our thinking minds. Morgan creates works that speak to that deeper sensory experience and seeks to transcend past the thinking mind into the essential self. The audience is drawn into Morgan’s work because we intuitively understand it rather than trying to make sense of it with our rational minds.

Whose work inspires this Creative?

Morgan has been inspired by many philosophies, texts, and artists, but she’s particularly inspired and influenced by Mark Rothko. Rothko’s ability to combine color and form to incite spiritual experiences within the viewer are the kinds of resonant experiences Morgan strives to stir in the viewer of her art.

How can readers support this Creative?

Morgan believes that all artists are precious and integral to our world. She would love for our readers to visit her website MorganRichie.com to make a purchase or contribution and follow her on Instagram and Facebook.