Christopher Cole: The Global South

The museum continues its contemporary Hawai‘i artist program in the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery with this series by Christopher Cole. The Maui-based artist uses a 1950s large-format 8x10 view camera with a specialized lens, allowing him to create photographic prints on a grand scale that capture the enormity of his subject matter as well as incredible detail within the landscape/cityscape. The Global South documents settlements on the margins of urban centers such as Kabul, Afghanistan; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Mexico City, Mexico, and exists on the border between documentary and fine art photography. Viewers are encouraged to study the photographs to notice subtleties that may offer a glimpse into the lives, as well as challenge assumptions, about the urban poor in the developing world. 

Raised on O’ahu, Christopher Cole studied photography at The Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C., and at Sarah Lawrence College, New York, before pursuing graduate studies in anthropology at the London School of Economics. His photographs have been exhibited at galleries in Hawai‘i and New York City. He received a 2016 recognition award from the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, as well as awards from NATO and the U.S. Departments of State and Defense for his humanitarian aid work.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website