Christa Blackwood is a photo, text based and installation artist working with themes related to identity, history, and popular culture. Her visual voice was developed while a student at New York University, when she began producing street installation art such as Butcherknives (1991), a work that addressed issues of sexual violence. A chilling juxtaposition of billboard-like close-ups and text from poet Michelle Kotler, Butcherknives, was plastered all over the streets of lower Manhattan on the evening that the William Kennedy Smith verdict was announced. The poster’s timely and provocative appearance resulted in heightened critical attention for Blackwood, including an invitation to join the Women’s Action Coalition (WAC) from renowned artists and scholars, Kiki Smith and Lucy Lippard.

Blackwood has studied with the photographer, educator and MacArthur Fellow, Wendy Ewald, at the Center for Documentary Studies at . She was particularly drawn to Ewald’s focus on utilizing the camera for “helping children to see.” These experiences informed her work as Founding Director of The Children’s Photographic Collective, established in 1995 to increase children’s awareness and understanding of culture through photography.

Her dream-like sequences and texts employ multiple techniques and methods, fusing traditional, historical and alternative processes with contemporary practices such as iPhone image-making and street installations. Thematically and stylistically, her works draw from Surrealist theories and practices, Pop Art and its engagement with film stills and print ads, and the candid intimacy of family portraiture.

Blackwood received her MA in Studio Art from New York University and a BA in Classics from The University of Oklahoma. Her work has been featured in several publications including , NYQ, New York Newsday, The Village Voice and The Chicago Sun Times. She has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, PUBLICATIONS AND AWARDS

2013 Solo Exhibition, Naked Lady: A Dot Red, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO Unbound2!, Candela Books and Gallery, Richmond, VA Geografica, Fototropia Center for Contemporary Photography, Guatemala City, Guatemala Today's Ticket, Unclothed and Naked Lady: A Dot Red, The Coloradoan, June 6 Lenscratch, Photolucida: Christa Blackwood, Naked Lady: A Dot Red, June 5 wall space gallery/the flat file, Christa Blackwood/Photolucida, May 27 RMFA Biennial, curated by A.B. Minor of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Rochester, NH Postcards from the Edge, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York City, NY Collections, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO Collections, Katie Ford, CEO, Ford Modeling Agency Photo Installation, Center for Intercultural and International Programs, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA Collections, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA Enchantment, 6th annual juried Plates to Pixels exhibition and catalogue 3rd Place, Krappy Kamera XV International Juried Competition, juror, Christy Karpinsky of F/Stop magazine, Soho Photo Gallery, New York City, NY 5th Annual International Juried Plastic Camera Show, juror, Ann Jastrab, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA Emergence, LightBox Photographic, Astoria, OR Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, TX

2012 Postcards from the Edge, Cheim and Read, New York City, NY NYU Venice, 80 Washington Street East Gallery, New York City, NY Catalogue Cover Image, NYU Venice, 80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York City, NY Best of Show, Holga Out of the Box 2nd Annual International Photography Competition, curated by Michael Kenna, TCC Gallery, Longview, TX Honorable Mention, FotoDC, Modern Vintage Altered, Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, CO Filter/Unfiltered, Filter Photo Festival, Chicago, IL Poster Drop/Installation, Hamburger Banhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin Documenta 13, Neue Galerie and Grand City Hotel, Kassel, Germany Bam Bam Cha, poster drop/installation, ISA, Wilfredo Lam Center, La Cabana Fortress, Havana Biennale Perfect Exposure, The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Photofest, curated by Julie Maguire, JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK Plastic Fantastic III, curated by Susan Burnstine, Lightbox Photographic Gallery, Portland, OR Rayko’s Fifth Annual International Juried Plastic Camera Show, curated by Ann Jastrab, San Francisco, CA Favorite, Lenscratch, Aline Smithson curates best of 2011 for Lenscratch blog Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, TX Mannequin Piss, poster drop/installation, Untitled, NADA, Pulse, Miami Convention Center, Basel Miami, FL

2011 Holiday, Lenscratch, curated by Aline Smithson, favorite Holiday images for 2011 Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, TX Pearl Street Gallery, Silver Imaging, Austin, TX

2010 Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, Dallas and , TX Pearl Street Coop, Black and White Exhibition, Austin, TX

2009 Third Place Prize, Alternative Photography Exhibition, Julia Dean Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Pearl Street Gallery, Silver Imaging, Austin, TTX Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX

2008 Alternative Photography Exhibition, Julia Dean Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX

2007 Alternative Photography Exhibition, Julia Dean Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Arthouse, 5×7, Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX

2006 Best in Show, Alternative Photography Exhibition, Julia Dean Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Arthouse 5×7, Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX St. Andrews Faculty Exhibition, Austin, TX

2005 Solo Exhibition/Installation, Dop Dop Salon, New York City, NY Spike Gillespie, “Super Badass Sites for Everyone,” Austin Chronicle, March 4 Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX 2004 Arthouse, 5×7 Exhibition, Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX Installation, Dop Dop Salon, New York City, NY

2003 Solo Exhibition, Gallery 1313, Austin, TX Robert Faires, “Articulations,” Austin Chronicle, April 25, 2003

2002 Solo Exhibition, Gallery 1313, Austin, TX Gallery 1313 Satellite Exhibition Space (now Marfa Ballroom), Marfa, TX Artist in Residence, Mexic-Arte, Museum, Austin, TX

2001 Artist in Residence, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX Borderlands, Fall/Winter, issue 17

2000 Installation, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX Made You Look, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX Editorial Staff, “Best Bets”, Austin American Statesman, May 23, 2000

1999 Visiting Artist, University of , Austin, TX Artist in Residence, Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX

1998 Kate Messer, “Public Notice”, September 17, 1998 Installation, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX Jean Claire Van Ryzin, “Homegrown”, Austin American Statesman Visiting Artist, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX Shake, PS 122 Gallery, New York City, NY

1996 Disappeared, The Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL AIM Benefit Exhibition and Auction, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY Bill Stamets, “AIDS Artwork Shuns Sentimentality,” Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 28 Stephen Longmire, “The Living and the Disappeared,” Windy City Times, December 19 Jennifer A. Footlik, “Disappeared: Scene Unseen at Randolph Street Gallery,” City Art December Play Issue, White Walls, a journal of language and art, number 38

1995 Arresting Images, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL American Standard, Here, New York City, NY Visiting Artist, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Fagosites, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL Swim, PS 122, New York City, NY Untitled V, Book Arts Exhibition, Gallery 450, New York City, NY L’Ultima Toiletta, Art In General, New York City, NY Oh Me Oh My/Childhood/Politically Correct Poster Installation, Exit Art, New York City, NY 1994 Issues of Violence, Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA Editorial Staff, “Surfacing Art”, New York Times, March 6, 1994 Artists Alphabet, Atlas Magazine, Issue 4 Institute of Fine Arts, Faculty Exhibition, New York City, NY Ecstasy, Dooley Le Cappeleine Gallery, New York City, NY Untitled IV, Book Arts Exhibition, Gallery 450, New York City, NY Butcheknives Poster Installation, Printed Matter, New York City, NY

1993 Installation, Dooley Le Cappeleine Gallery, New York City, NY Jerry Tallmer, “Honoring Stonewall,” New York Newsday, June 22, 1993 Best in Show, Photowork 93, Barrett House Galleries, Poughkeepsie, NY Ritualistic Deviance and Social Order, 10 on 8, New York City, NY The Gift, Dooley Le Cappellaine Gallery, New York City, NY Fiends, Fetishes, Familiars, Spotted Dog Gallery, Old Chatham, NY

1992 Artist in Residence, Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY: Artist in the Marketplace Artist in the Marketplace (AIM), Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY Artist in the Marketplace catalogue, Connie Butler, Bronx Museum of the Arts Vivian Raynor, “Show Serves as Cosmopolitan Clearinghouse for New Talent,” New York Times, July 26, 1992 Semi-Automatic, PS 122, New York City, NY Solo Exhibition, Whackxing Poetic, The Henry Street Settlement, New York City, NY Dreaming, Rosenberg Gallery, New York City, NY Kim Levin, “Voice Choices”, The Village Voice, December 6, 1992

1991 Best in Show, Venice Press Award, Work in Progress, Scoula Grande de Carmini, Venice, Italy Editorial Staff, two page spread of Butcherknives Poster, NYQ Magazine, Issue no.4. Installation, Kampo Cultural Center, New York City, NY

EDUCATION 1997 M.A., New York University, NY