Christopher Blechert

Christopher Blechert is an Inuvialuit photographer from Yellowknife, NT. Blechert cites his father and sister as sparking his early interest in photography. He is a largely self-taught photographer who explores his environment through digital black and white and colour photography.

Many of Blechert’s black and white photos approach abstraction. His employment of canted angles, sharp focus and unique compositions transform the grill of an air purifier, a lamp or the side of a building into complex, abstract vignettes. Blechert also explores the northern environment in photos of animals and plants. Tern (2019), an avian portrait, shows a bird in the moment it breaches the water, bathed in a rosy-pink glow.

For Blechert, photography is a means to explore his identity. “My work and my images are like a snapshot of my life,” he says, “but they are also a snapshot of what it means to be Inuvialuit” [1]. In addition to documenting the landscape and flora and fauna of his Inuvialuit homelands, he records traditional activities like dancing and games. Blechert’s viewpoint is unique and challenges viewers to see the world from different perspectives. The artist’s philosophy is succinct but profound: “art is so powerful, and it really does have the ability to change how you think and feel” [2].