Christina Labey is an artist whose interdisciplinary practice uses photography, printmaking, and natural pigments to explore the human condition and our relationship with the natural world. Her work manifests in site specific installations, artist books, and other forms of printed matter. In 2017, she published her first monograph, The Crystal Fire, a collection of observations—through photographs, archival material, and collected writing—that highlight the similarities of Mount Vesuvius and the Moon. The book navigates through a myriad of interconnected research, from NASA’s Apollo Project to the deity Apollo—who is ubiquitously represented throughout the region in monuments, such as the Temple of Apollo in Pompeii. The result is a fragmented narrative of these beautiful, volatile landscapes that are harbingers of both life and death.

 

The Crystal Fire is included in collections internationally, including the International Center of Photography, (New York); the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). 

 

 

In addition to her personal practice, she is the cofounder and creative director of Conveyor Studio—an independent publishing imprint and production house for bespoke artist books. She works with artists, designers, and writers to create thoughtful, collaborative publications related to the natural world; the coalescence of art and science; and the experimentation with process, print, and publishing. The publications have been featured in print and online media including The New Yorker, The PhotoBook Review (Aperture), It’s Nice That, Collector Daily, Paper Journal, YET magazine, Vogue, and Self Publish, Be Happy. Select publications have been shortlisted PDN Annual Photobook Award (Winner), Aperture Paris Photobook Awards, and ICP Infinity Awards; and are held in bookshops and collections worldwide. She’s taught photobook courses at Pratt Institute, Rutgers University, and the International Center of Photography, and lectured at the Yale University Art Gallery, Geffen Contemporary MoCA, and the Aperture Foundation, among others. She is based in Jersey City, NJ.