Cig Harvey is a British born artist and writer, who lives in Maine, USA, working in large-format color photography and poetry, whose practice seeks to find the magical in everyday life. She uses both images and language to explore sensory experiences and elevate the everyday. Rich in implied narrative, deeply rooted in the natural world, her work is devoted to the topic of what it is to feel.
She has published many sold out books: You Look At Me Like An Emergency (Schilt Publishing, 2012); Gardening At Night (Schilt Publishing, 2015); You An Orchestra You A Bomb (Schilt Publishing, 2017); Reveal (with Andrea Modica & Debbie Fleming Caffrey; Yoffy Press, 2020); Blue Violet (Monacelli / Phaidon, 2021); and Eat Flowers (Two Ponds Press, 2021). Her next book will be published by Monacelli / Phaidon in 2025.
Cig is represented by Robert Mann Gallery (New York), Peter Fetterman Gallery, (Los Angeles), Jackson Fine Art (Atlanta), Robert Klein Gallery (Boston), Dowling Walsh Gallery (Maine), and Bildhalle (Switzerland & The Netherlands). She has exhibited worldwide including at Paris Photo, Art Miami, and AIPAD (New York) for the past twenty years.
Her photographs and books are in the permanent collections of many museums and private collections across the world including The Library of Congress (New York); Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia Museum of Art, (Pennsylvania); Yale University; Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas); the Farnsworth Art Museum (Maine, USA); the International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House (New York), and the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection.
Cig had her first solo museum show at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo, Norway (2012), and a mid-career solo exhibition at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Maine, USA (2019).
An installation of Cig's work was part of In Bloom, a contemporary exhibit exploring the theme of nature at the Fotografiska Museum of Photography in Stockholm (2023). This show will travel to Fotografiska New York, and Fotografiska Tallinn, Estonia in 2024.
She was awarded the Prix Virginia Laureate (2018), and the Maine in America Award by the Farnsworth Art Museum (2021). She was a nominee for the John Gutmann Fellowship, the Santa Fe Prize, the Prix Pictet, and a finalist for the BMW Prize, the Estee Lauder Collection, the Karl Lagerfeld Collection at Paris Photo, the Clarence John Laughlin Award, and The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. She was the JP Morgan Laureate at Paris Photo (2022). Eat Flowers won the Fine Press Book Association Judge's Choice Award for Best Book in Show at the Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair (2022). She was the recipient of the 2023 Visionary Award, given by Maine Media to recognize and celebrate artists making extraordinary contributions to the fields of visual arts.
In 2023, Eat Flowers, a documentary film about Cig by River Finlay, premiered at prestigious film festivals worldwide winning many awards including Special Jury Prize at the Sante Fe International Film Festival for Documentary Short, the Audience Award at the Indy Shorts, the Festival Jury Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Best Achievement in Filmmaking Award at the Alexandria Film Festival and the 2023 IDA (The International Documentary Association) Best Short Documentary: Shortlist.
Cig is a member of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ). She regularly contributes to the New York Times.
Cig Harvey lives in a farmhouse in Maine with her husband Doug and daughter Scout. The slow passing of time and the natural surroundings of her rural home has made her alert to the magic in the mundane.
Feast: Artist Talk - 2023 - 2024
Elles X Paris Photo : Cig Harvey
Yoffy Press: Perfect Bound
Episode 5: Cig Harvey
Cig Harvey and I talk about all kinds of things from perfume to '90s female vocalists to being present in the moment (she's great at it - me, not so much). We also talk about photography and photobooks. A lot. Cig is charming and earnest and about as authentic as it gets. She's also working on an opera. Take a listen.
Cig Harvey is an artist whose practice seeks to find the magical in everyday life. Rich in implied narrative, Harvey’s work is deeply rooted in the natural environment, and offers explorations of belonging and familial relationships.
She is the author of three sold-out books, You Look At Me Like An Emergency, Gardening at Night and You an Orchestra You a Bomb. She also has an upcoming monograph called Blue Violet. Her photographs and artist books have been widely exhibited and remain in the permanent collections of major museums and collections, and she is represented by galleries in New York, London, Boston, Atlanta, Maine, Rome, Santa Fe and Los Angeles.
Selected Awards, Collections, and Shows
CIG HARVEY
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Robert Mann Gallery, New York
Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine
Robert Klein Gallery, Boston
Peter Fetterman Gallery, Los Angeles
Bildhalle gallery, Amsterdam and Zurich
MONOGRAPHS
2021 Blue Violet (Monacelli Press)
2021 Eat Flowers (Two Ponds Press)
2017 You an Orchestra You a Bomb (Schilt Publishing)
2015 Gardening at Night (Schilt Publishing)
2012 You Look at Me like an Emergency (Schilt Publishing)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 - Robert Mann Gallery, New York, Feast
2023 - Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Feast
2022 - Bildhalle Gallery, Zurich, Eat Flowers
2022 - FAS44 with Robert Mann Gallery, Las Vegas, Stories
2021 Robert Mann Gallery, New York, Blue Violet
2021 Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Eat Flowers
2020 Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine, Eat Flowers
2019 Oqunquit Museum of American Art, Eating Flowers
2019 Galleria Del Cembalo, Rome, Think, See, Make , Listen
2018 Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, You an Orchestra You a Bomb
20217 Huxley Parlour, London, Holding The Blue
2017 Robert Mann Gallery, New York, You an Orchestra You a Bomb
2017 Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, You an Orchestra You a Bomb
2016 Photo-Eye gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Gardening at Night
2015 Robert Mann Gallery, New York, Gardening at Night
2015 Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, Gardening at Night
2015 Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, Gardening at Night
2015 Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine, Gardening at Night
2013 Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, You Look at Me like an Emergency
2012 Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway, You Look at Me like an Emergency
2012 Joel Soroka Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, You Look at Me like an Emergency
2012 Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, You Look at Me like an Emergency
2012 Robin Rice Gallery, New York, You Look at Me like an Emergency
2011 Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine, Cig Harvey
2011 Tilt Gallery, Phoenix, Cig Harvey
2010 Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, Cig Harvey—Photographs
2010 JAGR Projects, Philadelphia, The Hope Chest
2010 Joel Soroka Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, The Hope Chest
2007 Robin Rice Gallery, New York, Cig Harvey—Photographs
2006 Joel Soroka Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, The Self-Portrait, Updated
2005 Robin Rice Gallery, New York, Cig Harvey—Photographs
2005 Watermark Gallery, Houston, The Impossible Tasks
2005 Pikto Gallery, Toronto, Eyes Like Disappointed Lemons & The Impossible Tasks
2002 The Maine Center for Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine, Tread Softly
2001 Paul Mellon Arts Center, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut, Tread Softly
2000 Masterworks Gallery, Bermuda, Artists Up Front Street
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & DOCUMENTARIES
2024 Fotografiska Museum, Talinn, Estonia, Human / Nature
2024 Fotografiska Museum, New York, USA, Human / Nature
2023 Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm, Sweden, In Bloom
2021 Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, Maine, Women of Vision: Maine in America Award
2021 Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA), Rockland, Maine, Into Action
2018 Musee de l’Eysees, Lausanne, Switzerland, “Retour a la Ligne”: Photographs from the Collection of Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Fall
2018 University of Texas, Dallas, Memory: Mystery, Magic, and Make-believe. Ms. Anna Fritzel, Ph.D, curating for the Comer Collection
2017 National Portrait Museum, London, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize
2017 Johnson State College, Vermont, On Photography
2017 Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Massachusetts, Contrasts: Seven Unique Visions in Photography
2016 Feature-Length Documentary, Cuban Footsteps: Five Diverse Photographers Follow in the Footsteps of Walker Evans: Mark Klett, Abe Morell, Cig Harvey, Sam Abell and Greg Gorman
2016 Fundación Canal, Madrid, The Gender Show
2015 Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, Picturing Maine
2015 University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, Maine, Pairings: Selections from the Bruce Brown Collection
2015 Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Portland Public Library, Maine, Highways & Byways
2014 George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, The Gender Show
2012 Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska, Rarefied Light
2005 Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, Figuratively Speaking: Cig Harvey and Tom Sale
COLLECTIONS
Boston Athenaeum, Boston
Bowdoin College, Special Collections, Brunswick, Maine
Colby College, Maine
Estee Lauder Companies
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
Fidelity Corporation, Special Collections
Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas
International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York
JP Morgan Chase Art Collection
Library of Congress, New York
Masterworks Foundation, Hamilton, Bermuda
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Special Collections, Ogunquit, Maine
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Stanford University, Stanford, California
University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
University of San Francisco, California
University of Texas Dallas, Comer Collection, Dallas
University of Washington, Special Collections, Seattle
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
SPEAKING
2024 Speaker, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
2024 Speaker, Fotografiska Museum, New York City. New York
2023 Speaker, Eat Flowers screening and Q&A, The Strand Theater, Rockland, Maine
2021 Speaker, Center Maine for Contemporary Art, Rockland, Maine
2021 Speaker, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
2019 Speaker, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Oquinquit, Maine
2019 Speaker, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
2018 Speaker, Comer Collection Honored Photographer, University of Dallas, Texas
2016 Keynote Speaker, Fotoscenen, Oslo, Norway
2015 Speaker, Photo Plus Expo, Javits Center, New York
2016 Keynote Speaker, Inspire, Boston
2016 Juror, Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture
2015 Speaker, Photo Nola, New Orleans
2015 Speaker, Photo Plus Expo, Javits Center, New York
2015 Speaker, Inspire, Boston
2014 Speaker, Photo Plus Expo, Javits Center, New York
2014 Speaker, School of Visual Arts, New York
2012 Artist Talk, Stenersen Musuem, Oslo, Norway
2012 Juror and Keynote Speaker, Alaska Photographic Center, Anchorage, Alaska
2011 Juror, Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture
2010 Keynote Speaker, Click 646, Greenwood, South Carolina
2010 Panelist, "Women in Photography," B&H Event Space, New York
2010 Juror, "The Uncommon Portrait," PhotoPlace Gallery, Vermont
2009 Juror, Annual Show, The Texas Photographic Society
2008 Juror, "Pause To Begin," International Emerging Artist Competition
2008 Artist Talk, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
2007 Speaker, Symposium on Contemporary Photography, Visual Studies Program, University of Houston, Texas Guest Speakers and Panel: Sally Mann, Vicki Goldberg, John Wood, John Stauffer, Sally Gall, and Cig Harvey
AWARDS/HONORS
2023- Visionary Award, presented by Maine Media to recognize and celebrate artists making extraordinary contributions to the fields of visual arts.
2022 - Judge’s Choice Award, Fine Press Book Association, for Best Book in Show at the Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair - Eat Flowers
2021 Maine in America Award, presented by the Farnsworth Art Museum
2018 Winner of Prix Virginia, Paris
2017 Winner of the CENTER Excellence in Teaching Award
2017 Finalist, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, London
2017 Finalist, The Clarence John Laughlin Award
2017 Finalist, The Karl Lagerfield Collection, Paris Photo
2013 Nominee, The John Gutmann Photography Fellowship
2012 Finalist, Prix Virginia, Paris
2010 Shortlisted Finalist, International BMW Prize, Paris Photo
2009 Nominee, The Santa Fe Prize
2008 Image of the Year 2008, American Photo
2008 Gold Award Self-Portrait Competition, Photo District News
2005 Best Artist of the Year Award, Venus Magazine
2005 Emerging 30 of 2005, Photo District News
PUBLICATIONS
2022 Boston Magazine
2022 Photographers Companion, China, Cover and feature
2021 New York Times Book Review, Blue Violet Feature
2021 Telegraph, Blue Violet Feature
2021 Marie Claire Italia, Feature and Review of Blue Violet
2020 New York Times, “Still Life”
2020 212 Magazine, Cover and Feature
2019 Marie Claire Italia, Feature, “Il Mondo Intimo”
2019 Digital Photo Pro, Feature and Interview, “The State of Being”
2019 Portland Press Herald, Exhibition Review
2019 Yankee Magazine, Feature and Interview, “Maine Dreamscapes”
2018 New York Magazine, Feature, “The Beauty of Stillness”
2018 B&H Photo Radio Podcast, "Cig Harvey—Think, See, Make, Listen"
2017 New York Times, Lens, Feature and Interview, "Fairy Tale Photos of Everyday Life"
2017 Creative Review, Feature and Interview, "You an Orchestra You a Bomb—Cig Harvey"
2017 BBC, Feature, "Sparklers and Snow in Maine"
2017 Photo District News, Feature, "Through Mother's Eyes"
2016 Fundación Canal, Madrid, Spain, Exhibition Book, The Gender Show
2015 New York Times, Feature, “Why Can’t Great Artists Be Mothers?
2015 Vogue, Spring Book List
2015 Photo-Eye Magazine, Book Review
2015 The Telegraph (UK), “Diary of a Life: Cig Harvey’s Mystical Portrait of Home and Family”
2015 Wall Street International, Exhibition Review
2015 International New York Times, Book and Exhibition Review
2015 Aesthetica Magazine, Book Review and Feature
2015 Lomography Magazine, “The Magical Realism of Cig Harvey”
2014 Pro Photographer Magazine, Book Review and Feature
2015 Photograph Magazine, “Cig Harvey: Gardening at Night”
2015 Lenscratch, “Cig Harvey: Gardening at Night”
2014 Aperture, Photographers Playbook—307 Assignments and Ideas
2014 Snoecks (Belgium), Book Review and Feature
2013 Foto magazine (Russia), Cover and Feature
2012 The Independent on Sunday (UK), Book Review and Feature
2012 Photo District News, Cover and Book Review
2012 Blink, Artist Profile and Feature, “Cig Harvey”
2012 Aesthetica Magazine, Artist Profile and Feature, “Uncertain Beauty”
2012 Fotografi (Norway), Cover and Feature
2012 Lenscratch, Book Review and Feature
2012 Boston Globe, Exhibition Review
2012 The Independent on Sunday (UK), Book Review and Feature
2012 Photo-Eye Magazine, Book Review
2012 GUP Magazine, Book Review
2012 Aesthetica Magazine, Book Review and Feature
2008 American Photo, Artist Profile, “The Best Photography Workshops”
2008 Maine Home and Design, Artist Profile, “The Moments Between The Moments”
2007 Bangor Daily News, Exhibition Review, “Photosynthesis”
2007 Maine Sunday Telegram, Exhibition Review, “She Came, She Saw, She Focused”
2006 Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany), Artist Profile, “Schoner Schein”
2005 Popular Photography Magazine, Artist Profile
2004 Photo District News, Artist Profile, "Rising Star"
2005 Shots Magazine, Artist Profile, “Cig Harvey—An Interview”
TEACHING
2012–present. Core Faculty, Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Program - Maine Media College, Rockport, Maine
2003–2012 Assistant Professor, Lesley University College of Art and Design (Formerly Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University)
SELECT COMMERCIAL CLIENTS
Ace Insurance
Atlanta Opera
Bloomingdales
Harpers Bazaar Japan
Kate Spade
Little, Brown and Company
Marie Claire Italia
New York Magazine
New York Times
New York Times Style Magazine
O Magazine
Paris Opera
Ralph Lauren
Royal Shakespeare Company
Surface
Wyndham Hotel Group