Light Source

Brown's work draws from the wisdom and magic of nature. His work explores performative practice & story of place, creating surreal high-contrast images. His recent works meditate on intersections between natural/man-made environment

Christopher's recent body of work, created during an artist residency in Broken Hill NSW, explores themes of deep time, the collision of multiple places in time and space, and the use of light as a mark-making tool. His images are surreal compositions, rather than truth-telling documentary photographs. Using the expressive potential of abstract movement through light painting, Chris' works invitie viewers to contemplate visibility, presence and absence.

Inspired by the rugged and extreme desert environment of Broken Hill, Christopher was drawn to the 'Slag Heap' as a potent symbol of the aftermath of mining, and as a surreal, man-made landscape which continues to reverberate in the city's zeitgeist. He spent several weeks refining his multiple exposure techniques and exposure calculation approach, using a large format camera and light sensitive darkroom photography paper to create negatives instead of using traditional black and white film.

His images capture the beauty and mystery of the desert landscape, imbuing it with a sense of energy and movement through light painting and mark making. The use of darkroom paper, which is not sensitive to the red spectrum of light, lends the images a unique perspective, rendering red items as jet black and creating a sense of partial blindness.

His work also encompasses papermaking, fermentation, sound design and ritual performance.

Christopher currently lives in Newcastle NSW, and works as a technical exhibition installer with Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Gosford Regional Gallery, The Lock Up and Newcastle University Galleries.