Cig Harvey

American Photographer | Born: 1973

The photographs and artist books of Cig Harvey have been widely exhibited and remain in the permanent collections of major museums and collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; and the International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Cig began working in a darkroom at thirteen and has been dedicated to photography ever since. She grew up in the deep valleys of Devon in the UK, and came to the States for her MFA in 1999, after years spent living in Barcelona and Bermuda.

Cig Harvey's first monograph, You Look At Me Like An Emergency (Schilt Publishing, 2012,) is a collection of ten years of pictures and written vignettes. It sold out in all printings and was named one of PDNʼs Best Books of the Year 2012. Cig had her first solo museum show at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo, Norway, in conjunction with the release. The book was well reviewed in a number of publications, including The Independent, Aesthetica, the Boston Globe, Blink, and PDN. Pro Photographer magazine ran an in depth feature, "Chance: Cig Harvey's deceptively simple photographs tap into the universal elements of the human experience: love, loss, longing and belonging. She's in demand for editorial and commercial work-as well as her for her fine art prints and books."

Cig Harvey's second monograph, Gardening at Night (Schlit Publishing, 2015,) was published in conjunction with solo shows at Robert Mann Gallery, New York, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Paul Kopeiken Gallery, Los Angeles. The book received critical acclaim with features and reviews in Vogue, The Telegraph, the International Wall Street Journal, the International New York Times, and Aesthetica among others. The International Wall Street Journal said of the series, "Though the subjects and setting are familiar to us, we cannot help but feel that Cig Harvey has led us through the looking glass to a world of wonder. In the way that twilight is not quite day and not quite night, the photographs of Gardening at Night are stories not yet fully developed, while still capturing the unexpected yet oddly harmonious moments that surround us daily."

Cig Harvey's work has been displayed at Paris Photo, Art Miami, and AIPAD every year since 2006. She has been a nominee for John Gutmann fellowship and the Santa Fe Prize, and a finalist for the BMW Prize at Paris Photo and for the Prix Virginia, an international photography prize for women.

Cig's devotion to visual storytelling has lead to innovative international campaigns and features with New York Magazine, Harper's Bazaar Japan, Kate Spade, and Bloomingdales. Cig teaches workshops and regularly speaks on her work and processes at institutions around the world. She is known for her high energy, sense of humor and creativity. She brings a profound sense of optimism to all that she does.

Cig lives in a farmhouse in the Midcoast of Maine with her husband Doug (who has the profile of an emperor on a Roman coin), their wayward daughter Scout, and Scarlet the dog (the original baby). The slow passing of time and the natural surroundings of her rural home has made her alert to the magic in the mundane.

Galleries:

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Cig Harvey by Ann Jastrab

Selected Work:

Selected Books:

Gardening at Night

Author: Cig Harvey

Publisher: Schilt Publishing

Year: 2015 - Pages: 144

Gardening at Night is an exploration of home, family, nature, and time. It�s predecessor, You Look at Me Like an Emergency, captured journeys in finding and defining home, while Gardening at Night denotes settling into one�s landscape, and creating life where you are. The narrative throughout has a delicious element of magical realism � the viewer is left with the feeling of waking within a dream. On the other hand there is familiarity in what she evokes � something primal and instinctual that points to each person�s connection to nature. Seasons figure prominently as metaphors for the cycle of life, and interplays between shadow and light underscore the work. Each photograph and written vignette offers a tactile experience of things that ordinarily seem intangible � the secret life of birds, of barren winter trees, of the lake in spring time, or the girl in the window whose house you pass every day. The jewel-toned images are arresting and weighted, but punctuated, as always by Cig�s characteristic whimsical style. The result is an intensely personal collection that captures an experience of the world that is at once otherworldly and yet instantly familiar.

You Look At Me Like An Emergency

Author: Cig Harvey

Publisher: Schilt Publishing

Year: 2012 - Pages: 144

Cig Harvey's YOU LOOK AT ME LIKE AN EMERGENCY is a visual autobiography exploring the photographer's central relationships over the course of more than a decade. Through rich, vibrant photographs and startingly revealing writing, Cig transforms quotidian experences that reference time and place, creating totems that mark key moments in her life. As much a map of one woman's emotional life as it is a catalog of psychological archetypes, YOU LOOK AT ME LIKE AN EMERGENCY takes the viewer on a literal and metaphorical journey that deals with rejection, hope, indecision, strength, loss, and love to finally find a place called home. In seventy-four gorgeously colored photographs and seventeen personally written vignettes, EMERGENCY conveys the universal quest for personal identity and place in the world.

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