Speaking to the essence of photography as a medium bound to the attempt to arrest the fleeting moment, Corson-Scott at 32 years of age remains resolutely insistent on the use of analogue film and ‘old-fashioned’ 8×10 view-camera as critical to the aesthetic of his work.

Producing evocative images remarkable for their unsettling juxtapositions of historic industry within the reclaiming natural world, Corson-Scott captures the remnants of industrial behemoths on which the prosperity of New Zealand was formed. Now decayed and largely forgotten, but uncovered by diligent research and multi-day hikes lugging an 8 x 10 camera, the artist calls our attention to the past reality before it disappears entirely, and reminds us of our collective dependence upon and necessary care of the natural world. Corson-Scott’s deep understanding of the behaviour and capture of light remains the equivalent subject to the significance of forgotten historical sites. More pertinent than ever, his new work resolutely reflects ‘New Zealand’ while speaking conceptually to a contemporary global discourse.

Trish Clark Gallery was pleased to present Chris Corson-Scott’s third solo exhibition in June 2017, Dreaming in the Anthropocene, a rich suite of new works presented as an Auckland Festival of Photography keynote exhibition under the thematic: Identity.

His extended exploration of New Zealand’s South Island yielded images with evocations of seafaring and trade, land-based industries and the historical basis of New Zealand’s wealth. The toll of time and nature is married with that of human action, the raw face of industry is juxtaposed with artistic endeavor, and the velocity of nature with that of factory production.

Corson-Scott has exhibited widely in New Zealand and internationally. Exhibitions include The Devil’s Blind Spot (2016-17) at Christchurch Art Gallery; Kinder’s Presence (2013-14) at Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki; History in the Taking: 40 Years of PhotoForum (2014) at The University of Auckland’s Gus Fisher Gallery; Photo 14, Maag Halle, Zurich, Switzerland; My Place (2013) Pingyao International Photography Festival, China; Recent Auckland Photography (2013) at North Art; and solo exhibitions at Photospace Gallery, Wellington; the artist-run space Snake Pit, New Photographs (2012); and Photographs (2011) at Wallace Art Centre. With art historian Edward Hanfling he is the co-author of Pictures They Want to Make: Recent Auckland Photography (Photoforum, Auckland: 2013).

Key Collections include Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland; Chartwell Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu; Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland; NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Corson-Scott lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand.