Bio
Paul Thulin-Jimenez is a photographer, bookmaker, and educator whose work explores how history, labor, memory, myth, and belief are formed and transmitted through images and storytelling. Working across documentary and conceptual approaches, he incorporates photography, text, video, collage, and installation to examine cultural identity, place, and the material and narrative constructions of history. Shaped by his Swedish paternal heritage and his mother’s Puerto Rican family history rooted in San Juan, his projects often move through questions of familial memory, diaspora, inheritance, and the ways images mediate belonging.
His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo, two-person, and group exhibitions at venues and festivals including Candela Gallery, United Photo Industries, Arlington Arts Center, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Benaki Museum, Grand Prix Fotofestival Łódź, Athens Photo Festival, Mt. Rokko International Photography Festival, Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards, Nera di Verzasca Photo Festival, FIF_BH – International Festival of Photography, Noordelicht Photo Festival, and the Center for Fine Art Photography. His series Pine Tree Ballads has been presented in multiple solo exhibitions, including at Candela Gallery, The Burgin Center for the Arts, Workspace Gallery, Arlington Arts Center, and United Photo Industries.
His work has been recognized through awards including a TPI National Graduate Fellowship, a Virginia Commission for the Arts Artist Fellowship, the Conveyor Magazine Exhibition Grant, Hariban Award Honorable Mention, Critical Mass Top 50, the LensCulture Emerging Talent Grant, and a 2025 VMFA Fellowship. His series Pine Tree Ballads was selected for GUP Magazine’s tenth-anniversary issue and later featured in the British Journal of Photography. His photography has also appeared in The New Yorker.
His first monograph, Pine Tree Ballads, was published by Candela Books in 2019. This was followed by the self-published Isla de Las Palmas (Collector’s Edition) in 2022 and Isla de Las Palmas: 100 Yrs (Deluxe Collaborative Portfolio) in 2023. His work is held in collections including the Museum of Modern Art Library, the VMFA Library, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cleveland Museum of Art Library, Stanford University Libraries, Duke University Libraries, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, and the Getty Collection and Archives.
He lives in Richmond, Virginia and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University.
CV
Selected CV
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Isla de Las Palmas, El Cuadrado Gris Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2019 Pine Tree Ballads, Candela Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
2018 Pine Tree Ballads, The Burgin Center for the Arts, Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
2016 Pine Tree Ballads, Workspace Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska
2014 Place Your Ad Here, Hunt Gallery, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Virginia
2013 Pine Tree Ballads: Labor Omnia, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, Virginia
2013 Pine Tree Ballads, United Photo Industries, Brooklyn, New York
2009 Dissolving Boundaries of the Self, Hoffmaster Gallery, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin
2006 Dissolving Boundaries of the Self, Red Mountain Gallery, Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, Nevada
2006 Dissolving Boundaries of the Self, Zone VI Gallery, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio
2006 Dissolving Boundaries of the Self, SRO Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Selected Two/Three Artist Exhibitions
2016 Chasing Tales, Candela Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
2015 Paul Thulin and Dolezal/Shipley, UNO-St. Claude Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2015 Paul Thulin and Dolezal/Shipley, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, Colorado
2008 Paul Thulin and Stephen Vitiello, Transmission Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
2007 Paul Thulin and George Allen, Nightingale Gallery, Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, Oregon
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Folding Suns, Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, Buffalo, New York
2023 37th Annual Collectors’ Night, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
2021 Unbound 10, Candela Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
2020 High Frequency, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2019 CURRENTS 2019: Reimagined Histories | Rewritten Futures, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
2018 The Big Picture, Studio Baxton, Brussels, Belgium
2017 The Big Picture, Denver Month of Photography, Denver, Colorado
2017 Mundo, Imagen, Mundo, Belo Horizonte International Photography Festival (FIF-BH), Cultural Institutions of Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil
2016 Renaissance Photography Prize, Getty Images Gallery, London, England
2016 Top 10 Finalist Slide Night, Nera di Verzasca Photo Festival, Switzerland
2016 Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards, Whitebox Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2016 [mis/dis]placed, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
2016 Points of Entry, Photofestiwal Łódź, Łódź, Poland
2015 LensCulture Emerging Talent Exhibition, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, California
2015 National Best Contemporary Photography 2015, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
2015 Emerging Photographers’ Show, Mt. Rokko International Photography Festival, Kobe, Japan
2015 BIPA, Galeria Valid Foto, Barcelona, Spain
2015 Portfolio Showcase 8, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado
2014 An Ocean of Possibilities, Noorderlicht Photofestival, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2014 This May Have Happened, Filter Photo Festival, David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Books
2023 Isla de Las Palmas: 100 Yrs (Deluxe Collaborative Portfolio). Self-published, Richmond, Virginia. Edition of 6.
2022 Isla de Las Palmas (Collector’s Edition). Self-published, Richmond, Virginia. Special edition of 25.
2019 Pine Tree Ballads. Candela Books, Richmond, Virginia. Hardcover, 198 pages. Edition of 750.
Selected Collections
Museum of Modern Art Library, New York, New York
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Library, Richmond, Virginia
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
Ingalls Library, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford University, Stanford, California
Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, New York, New York
Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
Getty Collection and Archives, Los Angeles, California
Selected Publications
2023 “The Ghosts of Gloria Lara,” by Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, November 6, 2023. Photograph by Paul Thulin-Jimenez.
2019 “On Death,” Kris Graves Project
2019 Abridged Magazine: “DELETE”
2019 “Living, Being, and Dying with the Pine Trees,” PhMuseum
2019 “Paul Thulin Retells His Family’s Folklore with Photographic Magic,” Humble Arts Foundation
2019 Interview and book announcement, British Journal of Photography
2016 APhF:16 Athens Photo Festival
2016 British Journal of Photography, May issue
2016 Feature Shoot, Artist Highlight
2015 Portfolio Showcase VIII, Center for Fine Art Photography
2015 “The Big Ten,” GUP Magazine
2015 Emerging Photographers’ Show 2015, Mt. Rokko International Photo Festival
2015 LensCulture interview
2015 Paper Journal interview
2014 Aint-Bad Magazine, Artist Highlight
2013 Fraction Magazine, Issue 53
Selected Honors & Awards
2025 VMFA Fellowship
2019 Dean’s Research Grant, VCUarts
2018 Dean’s Exploratory Grant, VCUarts
2018 Isla de Las Palmas, Shortlist 50, Political Landscape, Guernsey Photography Festival / Raven Russia International Photography Competition
2017 Landskrona Foto Festival, juried portfolio invitation
2016 Winner, Best Series, Renaissance Photography Prize
2016 Top 10 Finalist, Nera di Verzasca Award
2015 Gomma Photography Grant, Shortlist 25
2015 The Big Ten: International Emerging Talents, GUP Magazine
2015 LensCulture Emerging Talent Grant
2015 Encontros da Imagem, juried portfolio invitation
2015 Honorable Mention, Hariban Award
2015 Critical Mass Top 50
2015 Juror’s Commendation, Fellowship 16 International Photography Competition
2014 Review Santa Fe, juried invitation
2013 ACP Portfolio Review, juried invitation
2013 Print Award, Philadelphia Photographic Arts Center
2013 Conveyor Arts Exhibition Grant
2006 Fellowship in Photography, Virginia Commission for the Arts