... artist whose fictitious and prophetic artworks address contemporary environmental concerns by offering a sublime vision of the planet's uncertain future. Born in London, she received her master’s degree in fine-art photography from Hartford Art School, CT, in 2014. Seeing visual arts as a means of engagement, Helton utilises concept-specific technologies to image the relationship between human beings and the landscapes we inhabit. Gaining a HAM (amateur) radio licence, she continues to test boundaries of art and technology, making both long and short-range image transmissions. Her books have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Paris Photo - Aperture First Book Award 2015, and held in the collections of the Cleveland Institute of Art Gund Library, MoMA Archives and Library, MET Watson Library, Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives, Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs in the New York Public Library, Houston Center of Photography, Hirsch Library at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, David M. Rubinstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, and the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts Leipzig, Germany.
Lucy is currently a PhD candidate at The Slade School of Fine Art / University College London researching human environmental impact in outer-space.
Contact: lucyhelton@gmail.com
Instagram: @lucyhelton
Publications
OK, No Response, co-edited with Aaron Stern, published by Twin Palms, 2021
Actions of Consequence Special Edition, produced by the Silas Finch Foundation, 2016
Transmission, published by the Silas Finch Foundation, 2015
Actions of Consequence, self-published, 2014
Fire zine, self-published, 2012
Education
MFA in Photography, Hartford Art School, Connecticut, 2014
Certificate in Documentary and Photojournalism Studies, The International Center of Photography, New York, 2007
BA Honors Graphic Design, University of the West of England, Bristol, 1995
Exhibitions
Spontaneous Fermentation, SET Kensington, 7-17 Ansdell St, London - June 22nd - July 9th, 2023 - curated by Hannah Fletcher
Lost in Transmission, solo exhibit, Penumbra Foundation, Manhattan, New York - June 8th - July 31st, 2023
Toner, Photobook Cafe Gallery, East London - May 4th - 7th 2023 - curated by Matt Martin
QSL, Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, New York, collaborative installation with Jason E Geistweidt - March 3rd - April 21st, 2023
Heaven Burning Neither Farther, The Crypt Gallery, St. John on Bethnal Green, East London - May 2022 - Curator
Photobooks: Art Page by Page, GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts Leipzig, Germany, Nov 2021 - April 2022
Reclamation: Artists Books on the Environment, San Francisco Center for the Book & SF Public Library Jewett Gallery, C.A. June - Sept 2021
Silver-Page-Radio-Light, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, 2 person online exhibition, 2020
These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins, Horizon Avenue Gallery, Photo Saint Germain, Paris, 2019
The Earth Itself, Brighton Photo Fringe 2018, England - Solo Installation , 2018
Invisible Landscape, Stand 4 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, 2018
Pink River Dolphins, KRÆ Syndikatet, Copenhagen, Denmark - curated by Fryd Frydendahl , 2018
Look Up at the Sky, Sala Muncunill, Terrassa, Spain, 2018
NUCLEUS imagining science, Noorderlicht 2017 Photofestival, Groningen, Netherlands - Featured Artist, 2017
6th Annual Zine and Self-Published Photo Book Fair, Baxter St CCNY, New York, USA - curated by Anouk Kruithof, 2016
Actions of Consequence, A3 Artist residency, San Antonio, Texas, USA - Solo Show , 2016
FotoFest 2016 Biennial, Changing Circumstances: Looking at the Future of the Planet, Houston, Texas, USA - Featured Artist, 2016
Paper Movies, The Joseloff Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut, USA, 2016
Golden Hour: Thoughts on the Contemporary Photo Book, Silver Eye Gallery, Pittsburgh, USA, 2015
Burning with Pleasure, Curious Duke Gallery, London, England, 2015
See Image, Read Text, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Detroit, USA, 2015
Objects and Ideas, 5 Points Gallery, Connecticut, USA, 2015
Fire, 3rd Space Art Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, USA - Solo Show, 2014
Controlled Burn, Hartford Art School, Connecticut, USA - MFA graduate exhibition, 2014
La Vie Rural at Centre d’art et photographie de Lectoure, France – two person show, 2013
Festival Voies Off 2012, 17th Edition, Arles, France 2012
Onward 11, Project Basho, Philadelphia , USA and the Ricoh Ring Cube Gallery, Tokyo, 2011
Giving Trees, 25CPW Gallery, New York, 2010
Image 10, Association of Media Photographers, DUMBO, Brooklyn, USA, 2010
Sombra Projects Inaugural Launch, The New York Photo Festival, Brooklyn, USA, 2010
Timezones, The New York Photo Festival , Brooklyn, USA, 2009
Amerika II, The International Center of Photography , New York , USA, 2008
Shift, The International Center of Photography, New York, USA - graduate exhibition, 2007
Awards
Media Arts Assistance Fund for Artists (MAAF) / Wavefarm Transmission Arts Grant New York 2022 - awarded
London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) / Arts and Humanities Research Council Grant 2022-2025 - awarded
Developing Your Creative Practice / Arts Council Grant UK 2021 - awarded
Prix Pictet ‘Fire’ 2021 - nominee
The Anamorphsis Prize 2015 - shortlisted
Paris Photo - Aperture First Book Award 2015 - shortlisted
Dummy Award Kassel 2015 - shortlisted
MACK First Book Award 2015 - nominee
Residencies
Interdisciplinary ArtBio Residency, Coalesce Center for Biological Art, Buffalo University, NY, Jan - March 2022
Boomsatsuma Darkroom Residency, Tobacco Factory Bristol, Nov - Dec 2021
London Creative Network, SPACE, Jan - May, 2021
Land Art Agency: Sustainable Futures Outer Space, Dec 2020 - March 2021
Penumbra Foundation, Manhattan, New York, 2020
Wave Farm, Acra, New York, 2019
SÍM, Korpúlfsstaðir & downtown Reykjavík, SW Iceland, 2019
Lab Verde, Amazon, Brazil, 2017
Listhus, North Iceland, 2017
A3, San Antonio, Texas, 2016
Public Collections
New York Public Library, Manhattan, NY
San Francisco Public Library Book Arts and Special Collections, CA
GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts, Leipzig, Germany
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
International Center of Photography, Manhattan, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, NY
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan, NY
Houston Center of Photography, Houston, TX
Hirsch Library at the Museum Fine Arts Houston,TX
David M. Rubinstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, Durham, NC
Franklin Furnace Artists Book Collection, Manhattan, NY
Lectures and Artist Visits
University College London, Division of BioSciences, UK
Boomsatsuma Education, Bristol, UK
Gloucester University, Cheltenham, UK
International Center of Photography, New York
Yale - NUS College, Singapore
Texas State University School of Art and Design
Pratt Institute / School of Art, Brooklyn, New York
New York University / Tisch School of the Arts
International School of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Parsons The New School, Manhattan, New York
Penumbra Foundation, Manhattan, New York
FotoFest 2016 Biennial, Houston, Texas
Bibliography / Press
‘Photobooks. Art Page by Page’, co-curated by Calin Kruse / dienacht, GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany, Nov 2021
Betty Bright, ‘Reclamation and the Efficacy of Wonder, Part II’, www.collegebookart.org, July 2021
‘Close Look: Sliver_Page_Radio_Light at Dodd Galleries Athens’, www.burnaway.org, August 2020
Mathew Carson, ‘The Photobook is an Art Object’ www.monstersandmadonnas.com, April 2019
NUCLEUS, imagining science, Noorderlicht House of Photography, October 2017, 80-84
Melanie McWhorter, ‘Cover the Book: Edition Three, Opening the Book’ www.lenscratch.com, October 2018
Dialogues 02: 52 Photographs & 25 Poems, 205-A, 2016, Chapter XIII
Changing Circumstances: Looking at the Future of the Planet, FotoFest Biennial, Schlit Publishing, March 2016, 201-203
Elisabeth Renstrom ‘New York's Most Interesting Zine Fair Is This Weekend’ www.vice.com, Nov 2016
Ella Mudie ‘Beyond Mourning: On Photography and Distinction’, Afterimage Magazine, vol 44, No.3, December 2016, 22-24
Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa ‘Heretical Scrolls: Lucy Helton’s Transmission’, www.thegreatleapsideways.com, 2015
Gianpaolo Arena, ‘Outer Spaces 22/2015’, www.landscapestories.net , 2015
Jon Feinstein ‘16 Best Photobooks of 2015’ www.humbleartsfoundation.com, 2015
Matthew Carson, 10x10 Photobooks ‘Best Books 2015’ www.photo-eye.com, 2015
Olga Yatskevich, ‘Lucy Helton, Transmission’ www.collectordaily.com, 2015
Jon Feinstein, ‘16 Best Photobooks of 2015 According to Humble Arts Foundation’ www.hafny.org, 2015
Rebecca Bates ’15 Emerging Photographers to Start Collecting Now’, www.paddle8.com, 2014