Cig Harvey's work in vibrant color photography and creative non-fiction writing is dedicated to exploring the question of what it means to experience life with all senses.
Living in a farmhouse in the US State of Maine with her husband Doug and daughter Scout, the British-born artist Cig Harvey is deeply connected to the natural world surrounding her. Acutely aware of the passing of time and the changing of seasons, she uses her camera to capture the fleeting magic found in the mundane and to show how rich in color, light and beauty seemingly trivial moments can be. «I am interested in the magic of everyday life», she says; “Look at this. Experience this. Feel this. The pictures say that time is the only currency.” And what could be a better metaphor for this than delicate, fragrant, colorful and ephemeral flowers?
Plants, flowers, and our experience of the natural world are the threads that tie her photographs together. Her signature subject being flora, fruit, cakes, domestic interiors, and the human figure submerged in nature. Light is a subject in its own right, too; be this the last bit of fading daylight, a ray of sunshine through a curtain, dancing dots of light reflecting off a disco ball, or the flickering flame of a candle. And just like the vibrant colors of flower petals, light is fleeting, too, and Harvey intuitively finds the decisive moment to capture and unite both perfectly. With her work, she allows us to share in her rich, intense perception of color, scent, light, and human emotions. She opens up a magical world to the viewer, only to make them realize that this magic actually exists in the mundane. There is familiarity in what she evokes – something primal and instinctual that points to each person’s connection to nature.
Thus her photos can be read as a kind of modern memento mori, lively and beautifully vibrant, but nevertheless a reminder of the ephemerality of nature and life. Or in Harvey’s own words: “It’s a reminder to pay attention to today and not put it off until tomorrow […] cause tomorrow is different”.
Cig Harvey has published four sold out books: You Look At Me Like An Emergency (Schilt Publishing, 2012); Gardening At Night (Schilt Publishing, 2015); You An Orchestra You A Bomb (Schilt Publishing, 2017); Reveal (with Andrea Modica & Debbie Fleming Caffrey; Yoffy Press, 2020); and Blue Violet (Monacelli / Phaidon, 2021). Her newest and fifth book, Emerald Drifters, will be published in early 2025 and can be preordered already. Cig Harvey is represented by Robert Mann Gallery (New York), Jackson Fine Art (Atlanta), and Bildhalle (Switzerland & The Netherlands). She has exhibited worldwide including at Paris Photo, Art Miami, and AIPAD (New York) for the past fifteen years.
Her photographs and books are in the permanent collections of many museums across the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); New York Public Library; Yale University; Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas); the Farnsworth Art Museum (Maine, USA); and the International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House (New York). An installation of Cig's work is part of In Bloom, a contemporary exhibit exploring the theme of nature at the Fotografiska Museum in Stockholm.
Harvey had her first solo museum show at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo, Norway (2012), and a mid-career solo exhibition at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Maine, USA (2019). She was awarded the Prix Virginia Laureate (2018), and the Maine in America Award by the Farnsworth Art Museum (2021). She was a nominee for the John Gutmann Fellowship, the Santa Fe Prize, the Prix Pictet, and a finalist for the BMW Prize, the Estee Lauder Collection, the Karl Lagerfeld Collection at Paris Photo, the Clarence John Laughlin Award, and The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. In 2023, Eat Flowers, a documentary film about Cig by River Finlay, premiered at prestigious film festivals worldwide winning awards for Best Documentary short.