As a documentary photographer, Chanel’s practice seeks to portray the power of human initiative, connection and contribution. Inspired by the importance of solution-based journalism, she embraces visual communication that empowers and inspires. Her stories often focus on livelihoods, environments and communities that are susceptible to change based on emerging trends, development demands and the technological progressions that inevitably accompany today’s increasingly modern society. In this way, her photographs aim not only to serve as a historical preservation of their subjects, but to shed light on their most admirable, steadfast and necessary presence in today’s world.
Using a retrospective lens, Chanel’s more personal work similarly reflects this tension between preservation and change. With an eye for moments she deems timeless, her observations consistently focus on scenes that are reminiscent of older, simpler times, which persist seemingly unaffected by the advancements that continuously transform the world we live in. As a result, her photographs accentuate the “ordinary” – reasserting its importance as a photographic subject and highlighting the beauty that can constantly be rediscovered in the everyday.
Chanel is based in London and has recently completed an MA at the Spéos Photographic Institute following a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the Australian National University.
An English Summer
‘An English Summer’ is a body of work I produced over two months in England in 2019. Using a consistent blue-green backdrop of coastlines, skies, fields, parks and riverbanks, I hoped to highlight the subtle and simple things that make the summer months so very nostalgic; unguided by place or time. Correspondingly, I was drawn to things that strike me as “quintessentially British.” Given the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, which only continues to shake the nation, I created this body of work to offer viewers an opportunity to pause and consider the timeless British joys that will remain, despite everything we stand to lose.
To view more of Chanel Irvine’s work please visit her website.