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, 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, Oct. 2017 – July 2019, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Bachelor in Dramaturgy: BA in Dramaturgy, Sept. 2010 – July 2014, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Education in Creative Photography: BA in photography - first-year, Aug. 2015 – June 2016, Ljosmyndaskolinn, Iceland
Course at Engelsholm Højskole (focus on photography, vj’ing, music, literature): College (Danish Højskole), Jan. 2015 – July 2015, Engelsholm Højskole, Denmark
Course at Oure Højskole (focus on acting): College (Danish Højskole), Nov. 2014 – Dec. 2014, Oure Højskole, Denmark
Course at Krabbesholm Højskole (focus on fine art): College (Danish Højskole), Jan. 2009 – June 2009, Krabbesholm Højskole, Denmark
Awards
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
2019
After School - Collective Stategies - pic.london, Lewisham Arthouse, London, UK, Oct. 2019
Parallel Intersection Budapest - second cycle artists, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, Hungary, Budapest, Sept./Oct. 2019, (exhibiting segments from the ongoing project: ‘Tracing Entities')
MA Photography Degree Show - Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, June/July 2019, (exhibiting segments from the ongoing project: ‘Tracing Entities - Aftermath of War’)
em <BODY>ment - PPS (Photography Project Space), Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, March. 2019,(exhibiting photographs from the series: ‘Tracing Entities - Aftermath of War’)
SCREWED, Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, March. 2019,(exhibiting the photographs: whole<>broken and exposed<>developed from ‘Tracing Entities - Aftermath of War’ )
Femininity - PPS (Photography Project Space), Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, Nov. 2018,(exhibiting photographs from the series: ‘If there was someone to keep me at home - it would be you‘)
2018
Ed. 01 - PPS (Photography Project Space), Royal College of Art, Battersea, London, UK, Oct. 2018,(exhibiting photographs from the series: 'See the Sea - Invisible visibility')
Sailing on a plastic Sea, Sail Britains Coastline Project, at St Katharine Docks, London, UK, 0ct. 2018, (showing pictures from the series: 'See the Sea - Invisible visibility')
6 Academies - European Photography Award, at Unseen Photo, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sept. 2018, (showing pictures from the series: 'T O M R U M')
Parallel Intersection Zagreb - second cycle artists, at Organ Vida, Zagreb, Croatia, Sept. 2018, (showing pictures from the series: 'T O M R U M')
Family of No Man, Cosmos Arles Books, Les Recontres d'Arles, Arles, France, June-Sept. 2018, (showing pictures from the series: 'If there was someone to keep me at home - it would be you')
WIP Show - RCA, The Royal College of Art, London, UK, Jan. 2018, (showing the work: 'Face OFF - part one')
2016
Steypa Exhibition, Ólafsvík, Iceland, June-Aug. 2016, (showing the work: 'Cinematic Iceland')
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