Christopher Colville

Christopher Colville was born in 1974 in Tucson Arizona.  He received his BFA in Anthropology and Photography from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and his MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico.  After leaving New Mexico, he returned home to the Sonoran Desert and is currently living in Phoenix.  Christopher has spent his time in Phoenix exploring the desert while teaching at several educational institutions, most recently as a visiting Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. Christopher’s work has been included in both national and international publications and exhibitions.  Recent awards include the 2012 Critical Mass top 50, the Humble Art Foundations 2009 New Photography Grant, an Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Project Grant, a Public Art Commission from the Phoenix Commission on the Arts and an artist fellowship that allowed him to travel to Iceland through the American Scandinavian Foundation.

When not making work Christopher can be found spending time with his wonderful wife Melanie, while trying to keep up with their darling young sons Wyatt and Oliver.

View more of Chris' work here 

Project Statement: Works of Fire

Works of Fire consists of multiple series that were born out of a fascination with the dual nature of creation and destruction.  The images in each series were made by igniting a small portion of gunpowder on the surface of silver gelatin paper. In the resulting explosion, light and energy abrade and burn the surface while simultaneously exposing the light-sensitive silver emulsion. I loosely control the explosion by placing objects on the paper’s surface, but the results are often surprising and unpredictable as the explosive energy of gunpowder is the true generative force creating the image.  These fire prints visually reference celestial events, the residue of both creation and obliteration, generated from a single spark.