Chris Corson-Scott speaks to the essence of photography as a medium bound to the attempt to arrest the fleeting moment, remaining resolutely insistent on the use of analogue film and ‘old-fashioned’ 8×10 view-camera as critical to the aesthetic of his work. Exhibited widely, his work has been included in numerous museum exhibitions, and photographic exhibitions in Switzerland and China; Laurence Simmons and Christina Barton have written important essays on his work; he has curated and published collaboratively, notably with art historian Edward Hanfling and Chris Holdaway’s Compound Press; and is developing a feature documentary film in New Zealand, and a monograph for an international publisher.

Corson-Scott produces haunting images that sit within a global conceptual discourse focussed on the international structures that facilitate wealth extraction from individual countries’ natural resources, and the ways in which these give rise to cycles of development and decay. The photographs ask us to pay attention to the future of human occupation of our planet; and consider how the quest for sustainable development in this century will collide with these structures. Reminding us of our collective dependence upon the natural world, his images are hard-won. Unsettling juxtapositions of historic industry within the reclaiming natural world are uncovered by diligent research and multi-day hikes lugging an 8 x 10 camera, capturing the past before it disappears entirely.

Exhibitions include Tēnei Ao Tūroa – This Enduring World: Mark Adams, Natalie Robertson, Chris Corson-Scott (2022) at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery; The Devil’s Blind Spot (2016-17) at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū; Kinder’s Presence (2013-14) at Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tāmaki; 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 Arts House Trust Pah Homestead. With art historian Edward Hanfling he is the co-author of Pictures They Want to Make: Recent Auckland Photography (Photoforum, Auckland: 2013).

Public Collections include Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland; Chartwell Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; Arts House Trust, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland; NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

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