Based in Oslo, Norway, Christian Houge has been making photographic art for over
twenty years, and new insights continue to open. Exploring the relationship between
Humankind and Nature is an ongoing theme in his work.
By exploring this relationship, Houge investigates Man’s condition with recurring
themes such as environmental impacts in the Anthropocene era, identity, and death.
He often juxtaposes the visually aesthetic with an underlying sense of unease, which
invokes cognitive dissonance in the viewer, inviting the exploration of personal
references and producing deeper insights.
Houge began working on the Vanitas series and performances in 2019 after
completing his ritualistic burning of trophy animals for the series Residence of
Impermanence. Over the past four years, he collected rare human skulls used for
medical research, which he then burned in detailed classical Vanitas still lifes in the
memento mori (Latin for “remember you shall die”) tradition inspired by the Dutch
masters in the 1600s.
This cathartic performance evokes the impermanence of life and the vanity of living,
a meditation on the human condition in a culture where death has become taboo.
This reminder contrasts our self-confirmation through social media, which can leave
us somewhat detached from ourselves. By juxtaposing beauty and violence, these
still lifes in the memento mori tradition are meant to inspire on many different levels,
as the references to what a skull represents are endless.
The artist’s primary objective is to create a dialogue with thought-provoking and inspiring art.
In 2021 Houge’s series Residence of Impermanence (2017-2019) received nine
nominations for the Prix Pictet sustainability award with the theme FIRE. This work
was exhibited at six museums and several galleries, including a solo show at
Fotografiska, Stockholm (2019) and Galerie Omnius, Les Recontres d’Arles (2019).
Furthermore, work from Residence of Impermanence is touring the US in 2022-2023
with the exhibition Facing Fire: Art, Wildfire and The End of Nature in the New West,
initiated by the California Museum of Photography (UCR), Los Angeles. This
exhibition explores the ever-worsening forest fires due to climate change.
Houge’s series Death of a Mountain (2016-2020) was nominated for the Leica Oskar
Barnack Award in 2021 and received an arts grant from the Norwegian government
the same year. His solo show at Buer Gallery in 2021 received much attention, as
well as works shown at the Oslo Negative Photo Festival and Street Level
Photoworks in Glasgow in 2021. Many works from his series are included in major
private, public, and institutional collections.
His next solo exhibition, Temple of Light, will be on display at Bold Gallery in Prague
from October 20 to November 20, 2022, and will include works from both the Vanitas
and Residence of Impermanence series.
His work has been shortlisted for the BMW Prize at Paris Photo (Scout Gallery,
London). In 2015-2016, Paradise Lost toured China. His work has been published in
several books and presented at symposia and TED talks.