# Christian Patterson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christian_Patterson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christian_Patterson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Patterson > Source revision: 1336713825 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American photographer}} {{use mdy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = House on fire.jpg | image_size = 300px | alt = | caption = Photograph from Christian Patterson's ''Redheaded Peckerwood'' series | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1972}} | birth_place = [Fond du Lac, Wisconsin](/source/Fond_du_Lac%2C_Wisconsin), U.S. | education = | known_for = | notable_works = ''Sound Affects'' series
''Redheaded Peckerwood'' series | awards = | website = {{URL|christianpatterson.com}} }} '''Christian Patterson''' (born 1972){{Cite web |title=Christian Patterson (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection) |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/105Q3F |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection |language=en}} is an American interdisciplinary artist working primarily with [photography](/source/photography), books, and installation. He is known for his books and exhibitions ''Sound Affects'', ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', ''Bottom of the Lake'', and ''Gong Co.'' ''Redheaded Peckerwood'' was awarded the [Rencontres d'Arles](/source/Rencontres_d'Arles) Author Book Award in 2012,{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jul/09/torgovnik-rwanda-top-prize-arles | date = 9 July 2012 | access-date = 2 February 2015 | first = Sean | last = O'Hagan | authorlink = Sean O'Hagan (journalist) | work = [The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) | location = London | title = Torgovnik's powerful portraits from Rwanda take top prize at Arles}} a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) in 2013,{{cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/christian-patterson/|title=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellows|access-date=29 January 2018}} and the Vevey International Photography Award in 2015.{{cite magazine|first=Ye|last=Ming|url=https://time.com/3896144/vevey-international-photography-christian-patterson/|title=Christian Patterson Wins Vevey International Photography Award|magazine=[Time](/source/Time_(magazine))|date=26 May 2015|access-date=5 September 2015}} ==Early life== Patterson was born in [Fond du Lac, Wisconsin](/source/Fond_du_Lac%2C_Wisconsin), USA.{{Cite web |title=Christian Patterson - The Los Angeles Center of Photography |url=https://lacphoto.org/people/christian-patterson/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=lacphoto.org |language=en-US}} == Biography == {{BLP refimprove|section|date=February 2025}} Patterson is a self-taught photographer.{{cite web|website=Christian Patterson|title=Bio & CV|url=http://www.christianpatterson.com/bio-cv/|accessdate=September 9, 2014}} In 2002, he moved from [Brooklyn, New York](/source/Brooklyn%2C_New_York) to [Memphis, Tennessee](/source/Memphis%2C_Tennessee) to work with the photographer [William Eggleston](/source/William_Eggleston).{{cite web |title=Interview with Christian Patterson |url=http://www.ahornmagazine.com/issue_9/interview_patterson/interview_patterson.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028185556/http://www.ahornmagazine.com/issue_9/interview_patterson/interview_patterson.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-10-28 |date=28 October 2019}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/christian-patterson-and-the-trail-of-dead/ |title = Christian Patterson and the Trail of Dead|date = 2013-02-19}} From 2002 to 2005, Patterson lived in Memphis. In 2005, he completed his first project, ''Sound Affects,'' a collection of color photographs that explore Memphis as a visual and musical place, and use light and color as visual analogues to sound and music. In 2008, a ''Sound Affects'' book was published by Edition Kaune, Sudendorf. In 2003, while driving from Memphis to New Orleans on Highway 61, Patterson discovered a Chinese-American grocery store in Merigold, Mississippi. The place would become the inspiration for a 20-year project, ''Gong Co.'' In 2005, Patterson began working on his second project, ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', which is inspired by the late 1950s killing spree of [Charles Starkweather](/source/Charles_Starkweather) and [Caril Ann Fugate](/source/Caril_Ann_Fugate) across Nebraska. Photographs are the heart of this work, but they are complemented and informed by archival documents, hand-painted signs, shotgun-blasted paper boards, and readymade objects. Some of the documents and objects belonged to the killers and their victims, and were found in newspaper and governmental archives or found by Patterson when interviewing local residents or visiting former crime scenes. Later that same year, Patterson moved back to New York. From 2005 to 2011, he visited Nebraska five times, traveling the 500-mile path of the story. In 2011, ''Redheaded Peckerwood'' was published by [Mack](/source/Mack_(publishing)), named one of the best photography books of the year by many critics,{{cite web|first=Marc|last=Feustel|url=http://www.marcfeustel.com/eyecurious/photobooks-2011-and-the-winner-is|title=Photobooks 2011: And the Winner is...|website=Eyecurious|date=20 December 2011}} nominated for the 2012 Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards,{{cite web|url=http://www.worldphoto.org/news-and-events/wpo-news/2012-kraszna-krausz-book-awards-1/|website=World Photography Organisation|title=2012 Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324001341/http://www.worldphoto.org/news-and-events/wpo-news/2012-kraszna-krausz-book-awards-1 |archive-date=2015-03-24 }} and won the 2012 Recontres d'Arles Author Book Award. It is also featured in ''The Photobook: A History, Vol. 3'', edited by [Gerry Badger](/source/Gerry_Badger) and [Martin Parr](/source/Martin_Parr).{{cite book | first1=Martin|last1=Parr | first2=Gerry|last2=Badger | authorlink1 = Martin Parr | authorlink2 = Gerry Badger | title = The Photobook: A History, Volume III | place = London | publisher = Phaidon | year = 2014 | pages = 279, 309 | isbn = 978-0-7148-6677-2}} The second edition included an expanded booklet and there were differences in the printing, and the third edition introduced more changes to the booklet and added newly-sourced archival images.{{cite web|first=Joerg|last=Coelberg|url=http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2013/05/redheaded_peckerwood_iii_and_some_thoughts_on_photobook_editions/|website=Conscientious|title=Redheaded Peckerwood, III and some thoughts on photobook editions|access-date=2026-02-04 }} In 2015, ''Bottom of the Lake'' was published by Koenig Books''.'' The project revisits Patterson's hometown of [Fond du Lac, Wisconsin](/source/Fond_du_Lac%2C_Wisconsin) (French for "Bottom of the Lake") and takes the form of a facsimile of his family's copy of the 1973 Fond du Lac Telephone Directory. Patterson added his own photographs, drawings, and marginalia to the book. Like ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', this new work mixes large-format landscapes, appropriated and manipulated archival images, and studio still lifes. As an installation and exhibition, the work includes an interactive rotary telephone object and wooden sculpture. In 2024, ''Gong Co.'' was copublished by TBW Books and Éditions Images Vevey. The work takes its inspiration from a Chinese-American grocery store in the [Mississippi Delta](/source/Mississippi_Delta) whose shelves remained stocked with decades-old products.. Patterson has exhibited materials found in ''Gong Co.'', mixing his photographs with actual store ephemera.{{cite web|first=Peggy Sue|last=Amison|url=https://deardavemagazine.com/deardavereviews-blog/2025/5/11/christian-patterson-gong-co-robert-morat-gallery-berlin/|website=Dear Dave|title=Christian Patterson: "Gong Co." Robert Morat Gallery, Berlin|access-date=2026-02-04 }} == Publications == === Publications by Patterson === * ''Sound Affects.'' Cologne: Edition Kaune, Sudendorf, 2008. {{ISBN|9783000245145}}. * ''Redheaded Peckerwood.'' ** Self-published, 2010. ** [Mack](/source/Mack_(publishing)) version. Essays by [Lucy Sante](/source/Lucy_Sante) and Karen Irvine. Includes three inserts, an illustrated booklet and (in the third edition) a facsimile postcard. *** London: Mack, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-907946-14-1}}. *** 2nd edition. London: Mack, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-907946-14-1}}. *** 3rd edition. London: Mack, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-907946-14-1}}.{{efn|Although the [ISBN](/source/International_Standard_Book_Number) has remained the same, Patterson made changes from the first edition to the second, and from the second to the third. "The changes in the editions of Redheaded Peckerwood are small enough to argue for either static or evolving photobooks".{{cite web|first=Jörg|last=Colberg|author-link=Jörg Colberg|url=http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2013/05/redheaded_peckerwood_iii_and_some_thoughts_on_photobook_editions/|title=Redheaded Peckerwood, III and some thoughts on photobook editions|website=Conscientious|date=2 May 2013|access-date=5 September 2015}}}} * ''Bottom of the Lake.'' ** Oakland, CA: TBW Books, 2013. {{OCLC|861514425}}. Subscription Series #4, Book #1. Edition of 1500. Patterson, [Alessandra Sanguinetti](/source/Alessandra_Sanguinetti), [Raymond Meeks](/source/Raymond_Meeks) and [Wolfgang Tillmans](/source/Wolfgang_Tillmans) each had one book in a set of four.{{cite web |url=http://www.tbwbooks.com/books/Subscription-Series-4 |accessdate=5 September 2015 |publisher=TBW Books |title=Subscription Series 4 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021033515/http://www.tbwbooks.com/books/Subscription-Series-4 |archivedate=21 October 2015 }} ** Berlin: Koenig, 2015. {{ISBN|978-3863357702}}. *''Gong Co.''. TBW Books / Éditions Images Vevey, 2024. {{ISBN|978-1-942953-67-8}}. === Publications with others === * ''Lost Home.'' Tokyo: Super Labo, 2013. {{ISBN|978-4-905052-57-9}}. A slipcase containing a 24-page soft-bound book each by [Harvey Benge](/source/Harvey_Benge), [JH Engström](/source/JH_Engstr%C3%B6m), [Roe Ethridge](/source/Roe_Ethridge), [Takashi Homma](/source/Takashi_Homma), [Ron Jude](/source/Ron_Jude), [Daidō Moriyama](/source/Daid%C5%8D_Moriyama), Christian Patterson, [Slavica Perkovic](/source/Slavica_Perkovic), [Bertien van Manen](/source/Bertien_van_Manen), [Terri Weifenbach](/source/Terri_Weifenbach), and a 32-page prose poem by [Nobuyuki Ishiki](/source/Nobuyuki_Ishiki).{{cite web | url = http://www.superlabo.com/catalogue/spl045ps/index_en.html | accessdate = 5 September 2015 | title = Lost Home}} Japanese and English text. Edition of 1000 copies, 200 with a white cover and 800 with green. * ''AP CP BL – Ahorn Paper 1, Christian Patterson, Bottom of the Lake.'' Berlin: Ahorn Books, 2016. {{ISBN|978-3-946707-00-4}}. Contains two interviews with Patterson and contributions by [Gerry Badger](/source/Gerry_Badger), Thomas Weski, and [Lucy Sante](/source/Lucy_Sante). 144 pages. == Solo exhibitions == * ''Another Time, Another Place, and You'', Southside Gallery, Oxford, MS, 2003{{cite web|url=https://artfacts.net/institution/southside-gallery/17896|website=Artfacts|title=Southside Gallery}} * ''Sound Affects'', Power House, Memphis, TN, 2005;{{Cite web | url=http://www.deltaaxismemphis.org/powerhouse/ |title = Delta Axis, Memphis}} Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY, 2006{{Cite web | url=http://www.yanceyrichardson.com/exhibitions/christian-patterson | title=Sound Affects – Christian Patterson – Exhibitions|website=Yancey Richardson}} * ''Sound Affects,'' Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2007{{Cite web | url=http://www.kochgallery.com/exhibitions/patterson_owens/patterson/09.html |website=Robert Koch Gallery|title=Exhibitions}} * ''Sound Affects'', Kaune, Sudendorf Contemporary, Cologne, Germany * ''Sound Affects'' & ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', Robert Morat Galerie, Hamburg, Germany, 2012{{Cite web | url=https://www.robertmorat.de/exhibitions/christian-patterson-redheaded-peckerwood-sound-affects/ |website = Robert Morat Galerie|title=Christian Patterson – Redheaded Peckerwood + Sound Affects}} * ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', Robert Morat, Berlin, Germany, 2012 * ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2013{{Cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-xpm-2013-jul-18-la-et-cm-christian-patterson-review-20130714-story.html | title=Review: Christian Patterson on the tenuousness of knowing| date=2013-07-18|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}} * ''Redheaded Peckerwood'', Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH, 2014 * ''Bottom of the Lake'', Robert Morat Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2015{{Cite web | url=https://www.robertmorat.de/exhibitions/christian-patterson-bottom-of-the-lake/ | website=Robert Morat Galerie |title=Christian Patterson – Bottom of the Lake}} * ''Gong Co.,'' Festival Images, Vevey, Switzerland, 2016. * ''Gong Co''., Robert Morat Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2025 == Awards == * 2012: [Rencontres d'Arles](/source/Rencontres_d'Arles) Author Book Award for ''Redheaded Peckerwood'' * 2013: [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) * 2015: [Vevey International Photography Award](/source/Vevey_International_Photography_Award), Vevey, Switzerland. * 2025: Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant{{Cite web |last=pkfstg |date=2025-07-31 |title=Pollock-Krasner Foundation Announces 2024 – 2025 Grants Totaling Over $3.2 Million |url=https://www.pkf.org/pollock-krasner-foundation-announces-2024-2025-grants-totaling-over-3-2-million/ |access-date=2025-11-05 |website=PKF |language=en-US}} == References == ;Notes {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} ;Citations {{reflist}} == External links == * {{Official website|christianpatterson.com}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Christian}} Category:1972 births Category:American photographers Category:Living people --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christian Patterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Patterson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Patterson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.