In an attempt to articulate the visceral potency of Christopher Rimmer’s photography, the author, Tony Park said Rimmer’s work looked so deeply into Africa’s heart that you could almost feel the heat and taste the dust.
Christopher Rimmer was born in England and emigrated to South Africa as a child. He began taking photographs as a teenager with a plastic 35mm Hanimex camera. He studied photography in Australia formally, firstly under Werner Hammerstingl and then later at Rusden College under Paul Green. He graduated in 1991.
His critically acclaimed photographs have been widely published in media around the world. He has exhibited in group and solo shows both in Australia and in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Africa & the U.S. His work is represented in several corporate and notable private collections. He obtained an Excellence accreditation in the Federation International de l’Art photographique in 2009 and platinum in 2010 and in 2012 received an Honourable Mention at the Montargis National Contest in France. He is a member of the Royal Photographic Society and was shortlisted for British magazine B&W Photographer of the Year for his work in Southern Africa in 2011 and again in 2012.
In 2014 his work ‘Sign of Life’ was screened at Visa Pour L’Image, Perpignan in France and the Ankor Photographic Festival in Cambodia.
Christopher Rimmer’s critically acclaimed Amapondo, series featuring Nuguni cattle photographed on the east coast of South Africa, debuted at the New York Art Fair in April 2015 and was later accessed online by more than 55 million people leading to Art Business News Magazine nominating him the Top Artist to Watch in their 2015 summer edition.
In 2016, Christopher Rimmer exhibited large scale images of Luna Park, a one hundred year old fairground and a much cherished local land mark in Melbourne, Australia.
His 2019 series, Confluence – Tradition & Modernity & the Last Tribes of the Kunene River, documented the last remaining African tribes who live along the border region of Angola and Namibia, and was exhibited in New York in April, 2019.
Between 2021 and 2023 Rimmer traversed the vast expanse of the Australian Outback to photograph his latest project, Remnant – the Tragedy of Lost Significance which examines the connection between human aspiration and failure. The series will be exhibited in Australia in mid 2024.
‘A stunning collection by a talented photographer. Prepare for a journey not just to Africa but to an oasis of balance and beauty.’
Tim Butcher – Author
‘Rimmer’s portraits are richly layered with potent cross-cultural symbolism, a fusion of South African and Western imagery and fundamentally emotive. They are also simply stunning, peaceful, even joyful works by a masterful photographer.’
Dr. Shireen Huda – Art Gallery of New South Wales.