One no one and one hundred thousand

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.