Interview: Tracy L Chandler’s A POOR SORT OF MEMORY

Photographer based in Los Angeles, CA

Tracy L Chandler, Portrait of the Photographer

Tell us about yourself, what's your background?

I’m a Los Angeles–based photographic artist who grew up in Palm Springs, where the desert became my first studio and ongoing subject. My work moves between portrait, landscape, and narrative to probe the unreliable narrators of memory and psychological projection. I earned my MFA from the Hartford Art School and I’m a Contributing Editor at Lenscratch where my interviews with photobook artists often circle the same questions I’m working through in my own practice–how are we connecting to Self and others through the creative act.

I knew I wanted to be an artist when making pictures became the most honest way to speak about my life. That clarity crystallized while developing the work that later became my monograph—A POOR SORT OF MEMORY, a body of photographs that revisits my coming of age in the California desert

From the series, A POOR SORT OF MEMORY

I am continuing to build projects that acknowledge subjectivity while inviting viewers into that space between what is and what we remember. I am currently experimenting with how I can tangibly visualize these layers of psychological projection and photography is the perfect tool to do so.

I have also started experimenting with sound installation. My latest exhibition of A POOR SORT OF MEMORY included vintage telephones with recordings of ambient sounds that evoke memory.

Tracy L Chandler and sound installation from the exhibition of A POOR SORT OF MEMORY, Deadbeat Club Gallery, Los Angeles. (Photograph by Andre Stringer.)

“My work moves between portrait, landscape, and narrative to probe the unreliable narrators of memory and psychological projection.“

From the series, A POOR SORT OF MEMORY

What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?

I have also started experimenting with sound installation. My latest exhibition of A POOR SORT OF MEMORY included vintage telephones with recordings of ambient sounds that evoke memory.

From the series, A POOR SORT OF MEMORY

Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in a creative practice. What do you do for inspiration?

For me, innovation lives in the tension between intention and letting go. I’ll head out with an idea, and when it resists, I loosen the reins and follow what the world offers. That pivot often reveals what’s truer to the work than my original plan. The conversation between the world and my interior life—that’s the practice.

Tracy L Chandler photographing in the California desert. (Photographs by Andre Stringer.)

Describe your practice and process. Where do ideas start for you? In the studio or being in the world?

Ideas usually start with a memory—an image from my past or a visceral feeling when I’m near a familiar person or place. I use that as a compass and go out to photograph, often in the desert where my history runs deep. I move toward the tension—making the picture helps contain and transform the feeling, turning memory into a new creative act. While the process is personal, I welcome viewers’ own projections—they complete the image with their own histories.

Tracy L Chandler photographing in the California desert. (Photographs by Andre Stringer.)

From the series, A POOR SORT OF MEMORY

How do you make your work, does it start with a sketch?

Writing is integral. Journaling and dreamwork help surface motifs and guide my intentions.
As a photographer, I lean on the very productive limits of the camera’s mechanics. I set constraints—working with a palette native to the environment, using a large-format camera to slow down and decide carefully. Those structures keep the boundless possibilities from becoming overwhelming noise.

Tracy L Chandler photographing in the California desert. (Photographs by Andre Stringer.)

Many artists live by their routines, what does that look like for you?

The desert is my studio. I often begin at the site of a specific memory and follow the breadcrumbs from there; I rarely end up photographing the thing I planned. Also: hydrate. Tea is always in the kit.

From the series, A POOR SORT OF MEMORY

Who are your biggest influences?

Agnes Pelton, Georgia O’Keefe, Larry Sultan, Catherine Opie

A POOR SORT OF MEMORY, by Tracy L Chandler / published by Deadbeat Club

Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

How will Innovate Grant contribute to your practice?

I’m deeply grateful. Making work is costly and logistically inconvenient, but it’s essential. I can’t imagine life without art. This support not only covers production costs, it affirms the priority to keep creating and sharing the work.

A POOR SORT OF MEMORY, by Tracy L Chandler / published by Deadbeat Club

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

“Shoot through it.” When you hit a roadblock—logistical, emotional, or confidence—keep moving. The pictures will tell you where to go.

What is the best advice you would give to other artists?

Look within and make your own work. Everything else is already taken.

Installation view of A POOR SORT OF MEMORY, 2025. Deadbeat Club Gallery, The Reef Los Angeles.

Stay up to date with Tracy L Chandler

Website tracylchandler.com
Instagram @tracylchandler
Newsletter tracylchandler.com/newsletter
Book deadbeatclubpress.com/products/tracy-chandler