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Moments on the River (2006, 98 x 36 cm, Lambda prints)

A river runs through the city. It is like an artery that flows with vitality, and indeed it provides the location for a great variety of interactions. The river is integral to the fabric of the city’s character, yet it is also provides a physical break in the landscape where one can contemplate the city from within. Finally, the river is at once the city itself and also a path out of the city. A look upstream reveals the mountains that cradle the city; and downstream, beyond naked sight, lies the ocean.

 

Statement

Christian Orton’s photography reflects a long-held interest in concepts of community; its social components, its physical manifestations, and its changing landscapes. Documenting the communities around him, his earliest work in Japan, 山科田圃 (Yamashina Tambo), was a study of the interactions and tensions prevalent in Yamashina, the still rural yet rapidly urbanizing south-eastern area of Kyoto. This project developed into a larger ongoing body of work that he calls 古都の36景 (36 Views of the Old Capital), for which he has been photographing the various spaces and locales that make up the communities of Kyoto - included here are the series 深夜の発育 (Kyoto: Urbane Landscapes), 町家のポートレート (Portraits of Machiya), and 間の空間 (The Spaces In Between). Conspicuous in these works is an absence of the monuments so often used to characterize Kyoto. Rather, attention is given to the places that make up the daily experiences of the inhabitants, and the formative fabric of the city.

 

SELECTED ONE-MAN SHOWS, GROUP SHOWS & CO-OPERATIVE PROJECTS

2004, June 26, 120年後のREBIRTH (Rebirth of a 120 year old Machiya). Open House and Exhibition of Machiya restoration by Design 1st Architectural Designer Geoffrey Moussas, Photographic work by Christian Russell Orton.
2004, March 25-April 16, Silent Perspectives, Flanders Center, Osaka, Japan. Curatorship by Patrick Rimond. Co-exhibitor, Haraguchi Yoshiko.
2003, October 13-24, Lost Space, Club Karma, Osaka, Japan. Co-operative photographic exhibition with Eleanor Chung.
2003, September, Square Foot, A.W.O.L. Gallery, Toronto, Canada. Group exhibition of young artists.
2003, February, Shinya no Hatsuiku: Kyoto Urbane Landscapes, E-D. Gallery, Kyoto, Japan. Solo exhibition.
2000, May, Projections: Exterior/Day, Concordia University Theatre, Montreal, Canada. Student film screenings. (Filmography)
1999, August, Personal Space, Small Gallery, Montreal, Canada. Group photography exhibition.

PUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK

2006, June, Mark Another Architecture Magazine. Photography for article about the Kyoto State Guest House (Geihinkan). Written by Tom Daniell.
2006, June, Mark Another Architecture Magazine. Photography for article about contemporary Kyoto architecture. Written by Tom Daniell.
2005, September, Kansai Time Out, Urban Antiheroes. Article and photography for sporting event review.
2005, Kyoto townhouses: Learning the art of living slowly. Tankosha, Kyoto. Photography illustrating interview with G. Moussas.
2004, December, Kansai Time Out, Remaking machiya. Photography to accompany interview with Design 1st Architectural Designer Geoffrey Moussas. Written by Mathew Larking.
2000, Scrivner Creative Review, McGill Press. Selected photographs to accompany articles in the annual McGill University Arts publication.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES (CONCERNING MY WORK)

2003, October, Kansai Time Out, Lost Saces, No. 320., pp. 37. Written by Rob Wakulat.