A lot of her early smoke studies she considered tests, but it did pave a path for her current style of photography.
[2] Quinlan is often regarded as one of many contemporary artists revisiting late Modernism, alongside Tomma Abts, Mark Grotjahn, Wade Guyton, Sergei Jensen, and her husband Cheyney Thompson.
[3] Also she is considered one of several contemporary photographers — among them Michele Abeles, Liz Deschenes and Sara VanDerBeek — who are extending the innovations of the earlier Pictures Generation into new territory.
[4] Quinlan uses medium and large format analog cameras to create abstract photographs, and then agitates the film via steel wool or long chemical processing.
[8] Her political leanings, boundary pushing processes and resulting images are part of why Quilan has gained notoriety in exhibitions such as ""What is a Photograph?""
When she shoots she spends a lot of time arranging objects, looking back at the lens to see how the composition is coming together.
Once she finds an interesting composition she is content with and wants to continue working with it she locks down the camera to not move the setup.