Special Agents

Ryan Arthurs and Lindsay Metivier have been devoted The X-Files fans since the show premiered in 1993. Twenty-five years later, their shared passion for photography, the paranormal, and the enduring search for the truth inspired X-Files Photos, a collaborative fan fiction photography project launched in 2018.

Like Mulder and Scully, Arthurs and Metivier have assumed the role of investigators, photographically exploring the world around them in search of evidence of the supernatural—whether extraterrestrial life or other unexplained phenomena. The website began as a place to gather, organize, and sequence photographs that existed outside their artistic practices—a shared archive where ideas could evolve through ongoing investigations inspired by episodes, mythology, and recurring themes from the series.

What started as a conversation between two friends gradually expanded. Over the years, they began inviting photographers to submit work and welcomed guest curators to assemble their own investigations, transforming the archive into a growing collection of images connected by curiosity, ambiguity, and a healthy suspicion that the ordinary is rarely as ordinary as it seems.

Since launching the project, Ryan and Lindsay have each opened contemporary art galleries—Rivalry Projects, and Peel Gallery + Photo Lab. While their professional practices have continued to evolve, X-Files Photos remains a touchstone: a place for photographs that don't quite fit anywhere else, for visual experiments, collaborative play, and the occasional unexplained phenomenon.

Like The X-Files, their photographic investigations continue. New evidence surfaces, old mysteries remain unsolved, and the truth—whatever it may be—is still out there.

Ryan Arthurs - www.ryanarthurs.com
Owner of Rivalry Projects (Buffalo, NY)

Lindsay Metivier - www.lindsaymetivier.com
Owner of Peel Gallery + Photo Lab (Carrboro, NC)

Follow @xfilesphotos on Instagram