Short Artist Bio
Christel Pilkaer Thomsen (b. 1988, Denmark) is a visual artist working with photography based in Aarhus, Denmark. In July 2019, Christel earned a master’s degree in Photography from the Royal College of Art, London and she has a bachelor’s degree in BA Dramaturgy from Aarhus University, 2014. Between her two degrees, she studied photography both in Denmark and Iceland.
Christel’s photographic practice is a form of expanding and embodied portraiture with a focus on memory, identity, mythology, and contemporary social and political issues and how photography can represent and visualize these issues. In her projects, Christel uses an eclectic mixture of both traditional analog portraiture and documentary photography with more alternative and abstract photographic processes and techniques. Her projects are rooted in storytelling, staging, and perception devising a liminal space between the abstract and the figurative.
Education
Master in Fine Art Photography: MA Photography, 2017-2019, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Bachelor in Dramaturgy: BA in Dramaturgy, 2010-2014, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Education in Creative Photography: BA in photography - first-year, 2015-2016, Ljosmyndaskolinn, Iceland
Diploma course at Engelsholm Højskole (photography): College (Danish Højskole), 2015, Engelsholm Højskole, Denmark
Diploma course at Oure Højskole (acting): College (Danish Højskole), 2014, Oure Højskole, Denmark
Diploma course at Krabbesholm Højskole (fine art): College (Danish Højskole), 2009, Krabbesholm Højskole, Denmark
Awards
4th cycle artist for Parallel - European Photo Based Platform 2021
2nd cycle artist for Parallel - European Photo Based Platform 2018-19
Finalist for the European Photography Award 2018
Shortlisted for the ReachOutRCA - Durham Wharf Award 2018
Group Shows
2021
Parallel 4th cycle, Arles Photo Festival, Arles, France (upcomig)
2019
After School - Collective Stategies - pic.london, Lewisham Arthouse, London, UK, 2019
Parallel Intersection Budapest - second cycle artists, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, Hungary, Budapest, 2019
MA Photography Degree Show - Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, 2019
em <BODY>ment - PPS (Photography Project Space), Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, 2019
SCREWED, Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, 2019
Femininity - PPS (Photography Project Space), Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, 2018
2018
Ed. 01 - PPS (Photography Project Space), Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, 2018
Sailing on a plastic Sea, Sail Britains Coastline Project, at St Katharine Docks, London, UK, 2018
6 Academies - European Photography Award, at Unseen Photo, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2018
Parallel Intersection Zagreb - second cycle artists, at Organ Vida, Zagreb, Croatia, 2018
Family of No Man, Cosmos Arles Books, Les Recontres d'Arles, Arles, France, 2018
WIP Show - RCA, The Royal College of Art, London, UK, Jan. 2018
2016
Steypa Exhibition, Ólafsvík, Iceland, June-Aug. 2016
Publications
T O M R U M (Eng. E M P T Y S P A C E S), by Christel Pilkaer Thomsen, white_crystal Publications, 2018
Everything else
Art guide and educator, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, DK, 2020-ongoing
Board member Materielgården Kunstnerværkstederne, Aarhus, DK, 2020-ongoing
Member of Billedkunstnernes Forbund, DK , 2019-ongoing