About Taylor Chapman

Taylor Chapman (b. 1983) is an artist whose work explores distinctive  communities and the circumstances that shape them.   A sixth-generation Texan, Taylor was deeply influenced by Texas’s fierce sense of place, and by his father, who taught him darkroom photography in a converted bathroom at the age of 16.  After studying photography at Yale, Taylor spent years, while working as a teacher, documenting the places where he taught (high-poverty regions of the American South, rural Japan) before returning to graduate school, then moving to New York.  His long-form art projects include:

The End of the Line project, documenting the 44 unique communities lying at the final stops of NYC’s subway system, thus creating a mosaic portrait of America’s most vibrant city

An exploration of the world’s largest Rattlesnake Roundup, in which ranchers “round up” 5,000+ live, deadly snakes annually and bring them together for a weeklong festival of beauty pageants, gun shows, snake-skinning and ultra-American culture

A composite portrait of modern Japanese society, drawing inspiration from the work of August Sander to photograph over 500 Japanese from all walks of life, including farmers, yakuza, swordsmiths, housewives, priests, prostitutes and politicians 

An investigation into the life and death of Quanah, Texas: the origin point of Taylor’s family in West Texas, a dying town, and the strange nexus of many American historical threads - including the Comanche wars and the Koch brothers’ dynasty

A chronicle of his 500-mile walk across Spain via the ancient Camino de Santiago, a medieval pilgrimage embodying Spain’s tormented relationship with its identity as a zealously Catholic, yet historically Muslim nation

Taylor’s photography has been exhibited in Japan and the United States; has won prizes at Yale and from the Summerlee Foundation; and has been featured in ArtNet, i-D Magazine, office Magazine, the Brooklyn Reader, Huck Magazine, and more.

In 2024, his End of the Line series was selected to be featured in the main pavilion for NYC’s annual Photoville photography festival.