BIO

Christine Fitzgerald is a photo-based artist who grew up in the Eastern Townships in Québec, who now lives and works in Ottawa, Canada. Her work is inspired by her French-Canadian roots and her love of the natural world. She sees photography as a medium for creating unique physical objects. This growing conviction is the basis of her current artistic practice, as she explores the possibilities of using antiquated methods of image and photographic print making as a means of expression. 

A graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, and Acadia and Dalhousie Universities, Christine completed an artist residency at the Ottawa School of Art, was an invited visiting artist in print media at York University, and was one of 15 visual artists selected for the historic Canada C3 Expedition on Canada’s 150th anniversary. The work inspired by her Expedition experience was part of the Open Channels national exhibition in Âjagemô Hall at the Canada Council for the Arts in Ottawa, Canada. 

Christine has been the recipient of grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, and numerous awards including the prestigious City of Ottawa 2023 Karsh Award, the 2016 International Fine Art Photographer of the Year from the Lucie Foundation and was one of the 2017 winners of the International Julia Margaret Cameron Award for women photographers. In 2018, she had the privilege of creating a portrait of Dr. Jane Goodall on the occasion of her 85th birthday. Her work is in public and private collections and has been featured by the CBC, The Washington Post, the National Geographic, and Black+White Photography UK. In 2020, her artwork was at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. as part of the featured exhibition, New Light: Canadian Women Artists and as part of the Canadian Open Channels Exhibition at the 2020 International Frankfurt Book Fair, in Frankfurt, Germany.

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Christine Fitzgerald est une artiste photographe originaire des Cantons de l’est au Québec, qui vit et travaile à Ottawa, Canada. Son travail est inspiré de ses racines canadiennes-françaises et de son amour du monde naturel. Elle utilise son médium pour créer des pièces visuelles uniques. Sa conviction grandissante que chaque photographie est en soi un objet d’art sous-tend son travail artistique actuel. Diplômée de la School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, ainsi que des universités Acadia et Dalhousie, Christine a achevé le programme d’artiste en résidence de l’École des arts d’Ottawa et a été invitée à être artiste en résidence, Médias imprimés, par l’Université York. Elle a fait partie des 15 artistes visuels choisis pour participer à l’expédition historique Canada C3, à l’occasion du 150e anniversaire de la Confédération. Les photographies inspirées de cette expédition ont été présentées à l’exposition nationale Passages communicantsprésentée au Conseil des Arts du Canada, à Ottawa.

Christine a reçu des subventions du Conseil des arts de l’Ontario et du Conseil des arts du Canada. En 2016, elle a été sélectionnée pour le prestigieux Prix Karsh 2023 de la Ville d'Ottawa, comme artiste photographe internationale de l’année par la Fondation Lucie à New York et, en 2017, comme une des lauréates du prix international Julia Margaret Cameron pour les femmes photographes. Ses photographies font désormais partie dans de collections publiques et privées, et ont fait l’objet de mentions élogieuses de la part de la CBC, du Washington Post et du National Geographic. En 2020, ses œuvres ont été présentées à l’Ambassade canadienne de Washington (États-Unis) dans le cadre de l’exposition New Light: Canadian Women Artists / Une nouvelle lumière : Les femmes artistes canadiennes, et dans l'exposition d'art Canadien Open Channels qui a fait partie de la Foire internationale du livre de Francfort 2020.

“Fitzgerald’s use of early photographic processes invites viewers to connect with the technical foundations of the art form. Her incorporation of modern digital techniques further expands the possibilities of these methods, resulting in photographs that are both beautiful and meaningful. Fitzgerald’s distinctive work exemplifies both the excellence and dedication that the Karsh Award celebrates”. Jury, Karsh Award, City of Ottawa, August 2023.

“She is someone to keep your eye on”. Analog Forever Magazine, July 2022.

“Her painterly, people-centred record of the present day is comprised of ‘named’ subjects facing the camera squarely, in contemporary dress, each a remarkable post-colonial collaborative portrait.” Curatorial Essay. Portrait Gallery of Canada, 2021.

“The final prints are breathtakingly beautiful when first seen. And then you shudder upon realizing what is exactly is being photographed. Christine wants you to shudder”. Luxe Magazine, Winter 2019.

“She has taken a series of truly beautiful and noble portraits of parrots…The results are spectacular…you can almost look into the souls of these parrots….these are beautiful ..all awash in colour…” CBC, October 2019.

“Christine has really made an outstanding body of work with these prints. The printing itself is masterful and the subject matter is perfectly suited to the process. A great combination of photographic and printing skills, craftsmanship, and subject matter.” - The Hand Magazine, October, 2019.

“The beauty of the wet-collodion photographic process is that you get all these unplanned imperfections in the process, and for me these imperfections are a metaphor for the imperfections of humanity,” she says. “The illegal trafficking of wildlife is for greed. It’s because of ignorance. It’s because of indifference. These are all imperfections of humanity.” The National Geographic Magazine, December 2018

“Her series TRAFFICKED takes a fresh and unlikely approach to the horrors of today’s illegal wildlife trade, bringing us face-to-face with the objects confiscated by the Wildlife Enforcement Branch of the Canadian Government….Behind every object, there was once a living creature, and Fitzgerald’s photographs seem as organic and fragile as the materials she documented.” Feature Shoot, October 2018.

“Fitzgerald’s photographs have a clarity often lost in digital times." Artsfile, June 2018.

“She created all of the images using the laborious 19th century wet collodion process that involves exposing chemically treated photographic plates and then developing them in a darkroom. What resulted is a poetically compelling look at the evidence of human beings’ sometimes illegal, often abusive, relationship in wildlife trading.” The Washington Post, May 2018.

Christine wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the following funders:

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Christine tient à souligner le généreux soutien des bailleurs de fonds suivants: