Chanel is a portrait and documentary photographer based in Kent. Her work celebrates the relationship between people and place and the stories they tell.
Chanel’s personal practice explores the tension between preservation and change. The thin, ever-fascinating thread which is pulled between honouring the past and anticipating the needs of the future.
Family heritage and traditional practices inevitably intersect with emerging trends, environmental pressures and rising living costs. Adored landscapes face the imminent threat of climate change. In other settings, ordinary moments and interactions persist seemingly unaffected by our constantly transforming world. As an avid observer, Chanel is equally fascinated by that which endures and those that adapt to change.
Inspired by the growth of constructive, solution-based journalism, she is particularly interested in the role that human creativity, connection and contribution can play - as portrayed by the people who strive to make a positive environmental and social impact in their communities.
Photo by Siân Davey.
Chanel is available for commissioned work and collaborations both in the UK and abroad. She completed a MA in Professional Photography at the Spéos Photographic Institute following a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the Australian National University. Chanel is also a qualified teacher.
Her personal work is licensed by KINTZING and Millennium Images.
Contact details here.
“There is a sense of serenity in her works that immediately characterises her style. It is a calmness and lightness you can’t quite put your finger on, but remain in awe of. Her photographs accentuate the ‘ordinary’- reasserting its importance as a photographic subject and showcasing the beauty that can constantly be rediscovered in the everyday.”
Online Features: Then There Was Us, Unveil’d, Positive Magazine, Ain’t Bad, Lodestars Anthology, Culture Trip, Of The Land and Us, Analog Magazine, Dodho (Time and Tide), Dodho (On the Farm), F-Stop Magazine, Musée Magazine, SUITCASE Magazine, Photograd, ReadSyndrome, Analog Forever.
Published: Goodwood Magazine, SUITCASE Magazine, Lodestars Anthology, AND2021 by Then There Was Us, ‘Field Notes’ Zine series published by Another Place Press, Stories Journal 2021, BJP Portrait of Britain 2020, GUP Magazine ‘Fresh Eyes’ 2020, WUNDER, Photograd.
Photobook ‘An English Summer’ published by Hoxton Mini Press - featured on The Times, The Guardian, BBC, The Face and reviewed by The Telegraph, Hackney Citizen, Elephant Magazine and Waitrose Weekend. See more here.
Awards: Photo Collective Stories Award 2021 (Shortlisted), IPA 2020 Editorial/Environmental Category (Honourable Mention), Australian Photography Awards 2020 (Finalist), HeadOn Photography Awards 2020 (Semi-finalist), Australian Photography Awards 2019 (Shortlisted).
Exhibitions:
‘Control’, Format Festival, virtual exhibition for #massisolationFORMAT by New Art City, March 2021
‘Transformation,’ Photo Israel International Photography Festival, Tel Aviv - November 2020
Fresh Eyes Photo Fair, Westergas, Amsterdam - September 2020
Postcards from Great Britain, Hotel Lion D’or, Haarlem - March 2020 (with pop-ups around Europe)
Featureshoot x Print Swap, The Foley Gallery, New York - March 2020
Foto Femme United Group Show, Spéos Gallery, Paris - February 2020
Graduate Show, Spéos Gallery, Paris - May 2019
All work is dedicated to Harriet Nixon, a once-in-a-lifetime friend and lifelong inspiration.