Photographer #351: Christopher Colville

Christopher Colville, 1974, USA, is a conceptual and experimental photographer. He received a BFA in Anthropology and Photography at the Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico.  He uses many different techniques to obtain his photographic works. For his series Dark Emanations he placed dead squid in containers where they emit gaseous clouds of phosphorescent light as they decay. This light or chemical decomposition imprints itself as colors on paper. The beauty for Christopher is not the death of the squid, but the possibility of new life due to the decaying process. In 2006 he spend 27 days in a tent in Iceland where he created a body of work consisting of four suites of images that are unique yet intertwined. He photographed the entire night on one single image, documented the cairns (man-made piles of stones) and the landscapes. While working on this project he would collect a small plant in the morning, place it on an impregnated paper attached to his backpack. While hiking it was exposed to the sun thus creating an image. The following images come from the series The Iceland Trilogy & Movements, Dark Emanations and Instar.

Website: www.christophercolville.com