Contemporary odes to Nature in the truest sense of the term, the photographs of Catherine Nelson are dreamlike and sublime vital elements, staged as serenely revolving spheres. Inspired by impressionist painting and by Bruegel, the artist creates her images intuitively, without looking for meaning: “I like the idea that everyone can form their own interpretation. I personally see my work as painting rather than photography and I refer to the tradition of landscape painting: I believe that I am painting after the images taken by my camera”

Thus, visual poetry, photographs of nature and digital techniques blend intrinsically to give shape to these transcendental landscapes. Every image is meticulously composed with thousands of precisely assembled details, capturing the essence of the place and its peaceful strength.

Both attractive and mysterious, the worlds she imagines and names her « Creations » are pure and free – or almost free - of the imprint of Man, as if created by a higher power: if there was a paradise, this is indeed what it would probably look like… Blooming fields, a pond covered with lilies in the spring, a flight of birds are the very real elements composing these sublime, imaginary and surreal worlds that we wish really existed.

Like mirages, these spheres possess a resonance, both elementary and spiritual, producing a strange sensation of peace and well being. They inevitably generate sensations that we all experience when confronted with Mother Nature: its immensity, its power, its beauty and the accompanying feelings of freedom, the simultaneous feeling of emptiness and overflowing, and finally a certain wholeness… At this critical period when humanity is becoming aware of the vulnerability of its environment, the works of Catherine Nelson subtly remind us of an even deeper truth…

Catherine Nelson graduated from the Chelsea College of Art & Design in 1992 and the Sydney College of Fine Arts in 1996. She began her career in the movies by creating visual effects for big productions such as Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban…
Starting in 2008, she decided to focus on her personal work, expressing her creativity through photography and numerical art. Her series “Creations” received the 2010 « Royal Bank of Scotland Emerging Artist Award » and was followed by an exhibition at the Australian Centre for Photography in early 2010.