Chris Harrison

Chris Harrison (Christopher Matthew Harrison, born 1967 in Jarrow) is an English photographer known for his work which has explored ideas of home, histories and class.

Early life

Harrison grew up in Jarrow, England He left school at 15 when he became an apprentice fitter at Swan Hunter shipyard.

Works

Whatever Happened to Audra Patterson? In 1991, Harrison was awarded a Northern Arts Production Award to make the work "Whatever Happened to Audra Patterson?" Taking as his starting point his own Valley View Junior school class photo from 1978, Harrison located all but one of his former classmates and photographed them. and featured in the Independent Magazine.

Described by Val Williams as "one of the few photo series to emerge from the new British colour documentary which neither satirised nor objectified a group in society, which saw itself as marginalised, bound into, and emerging from, a culture of poverty and lack of opportunity." was put on permanent display in Leconfield Hall. consisting of panoramic colour photographs of World War I memorials. The images serve to interrogate the place of memory in the contemporary landscape, By using a large format panoramic camera and a slow shutter speed Harrison shows the viewer the memorials in isolation as opposed to how we normally see them, i.e. in passing. This emphasises the act of looking and "the result is to give objects we hardly ever examine an ironic splendour." and in 2007 "Sites of Memory" was exhibited at the Tate Britain, London as part of an extensive survey of British Photography curated by Val Williams and Susan Bright, "How we are: Photographing Britain from the 1840s to the Present".

In 1997, Harrison was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art and studied alongside Clare Strand, Anne Hardy, Bettina von Zwehl, Sophy Rickett, Gareth McConnell and Alison Jackson

I Belong Jarrow

In 2012, Harrison published his first monograph,"I Belong Jarrow" and the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland, England.

Copper Horses In 2012, Harrison was awarded the 16th Bradford Fellowship at the National Media Museum, Bradford, England. The Fellowship enabled mid-career photographers to develop their professional practice. Previous recipients included Paul Graham, David Hurn, Donovan Wylie and Sarah Jones. For the one year Fellowship Harrison photographed the boring machine his father had operated throughout his working life. "The result is a complex visual metaphor for his thoughts and feelings about his relationship with his father and the many people who work hard to make ends meet in British industry".

The work, titled "Copper Horses" was exhibited at the National Media Museum in 2013. The title of the exhibition derives from the name given to a copper component for electrical substation produced by the workers in Jarrow.

For the exhibition Copper Horses, Harrison produced a set of images which show some of his father's Tools and possessions (a set of Dominoes a Micrometer, a photograph of him when he was 16 and a champion swimmer) and the dismantled parts of the machine (Vertical and Horizontal boring machine) he operated, from the age of 15 years until retirement. Copper Horses. The National Media Museum, Bradford, England. 2013.

Group exhibitions

Fanny & Darko, The Art of Growing Up. curated by Carlo Roberti. Works by, Donna Ferrato, Lauren Greenfield, Philip Jones Griffiths, Chris Harrison, Jouko Lehtola, Sally Mann, Andrea Modica, Paolo Pellegrin. Maylight Festival. Palazzo del Podestà, Bologna, Italy. 1997. For Evermore. curated by Peter Neill. Works by, J.S. Cartier, Peter Cattrell, David Keith, Chris Harrison. Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland. 2000. Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War curated by IWM North. Works by (Selection), Paul Seawright, Peter Kennard, Cat Picton Phillipps, Chris Harrison, Willie Doherty, Ori Gersht, Steve McQueen, Edmund Clark. The Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, England. 2013.

Collections The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK. The National Media Museum Photography Collection, Bradford, UK. The Imperial War Museum, London, UK. The British Council, UK. Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK.