Emma Critchley (b. 1980) is a British artist whose interdisciplinary practice spans photography, film, sound, and installation. A Royal College of Art alumna, she explores the human relationship with the underwater environment as a deeply political, philosophical, and environmental space. Through homogeneous staging, framing, and lighting, she emphasizes the uniqueness of her subjects’ intimate, social, and existential worlds, often examining themes of climate change, environmental degradation, and humanity’s impact on nature.
Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) Soundings, Quay Arts, UK (2025); Soundings, Tate St Ives, UK (2025); Soundings, John Hansard Gallery, UK (2025); Soundings, Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts, Brighton Festival, UK (2025); Witness, installation with live performance, Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts, Brighton Festival, UK (2022); Witness, film installation, Official Italian Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy (2021); Witness, film installation, Sala del Camino, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy (2021); The Space Below, public sound installation, Greenwich Foot Tunnel, London, UK (2020); The Water Sinks Down With Them, public installation commissioned by Opera North Projects, The Southbank Centre; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art; Leeds Central Library (2016); At the Still Point of the Turning World, Cabin Gallery, London, UK (2015); They, screening of film commission, Royal Geographic Society International Conference, University of Exeter, UK (2015); Suspended Moment, The Front View, Whitstable, UK (2013); Solo Exhibition, Farringdon, London, UK (2006).
Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Growth of the Soil, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2025); Vital Signs: Another World is Possible, Science Gallery London, UK (2024–2025); Mind & Matter, University of Hertfordshire Art:Sci Lab, UK (2025); What Stories Make Worlds, Hestercombe Gallery, UK (2024); In Search of Roots and Identity: A Bridge Between England and Schio, Lanificio Conte, Venice, Italy (2024); Busan Sea Art Festival, Busan Biennale & Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea (2023); The Bird & The Elephant, KK Chambers, hosted by TARQ Mumbai & SqwLab, Coventry City of Culture, Mumbai, India (2022); Common Heritage, Aesthetica Film Festival, York, UK (2019); Seismic Cities, Orbital Dago, Bandung, Java, Indonesia (2019); 209 Women, Portcullis House, London & Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK (2018–2019); Slow Violence, University of Hertfordshire, London (2018); Film for Friday, screenings, Tate St Ives, UK (2017); Ocean Imaginaries, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia (2017); From Selfie to Self-Expression, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2017); UK/RAINE, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2015); Work, Rest and Play: British Photography from the 1960s to Today, The Photographers Gallery & Pin Projects Beijing, Shenzhen OCT-LOFT, China (2015); Embrace, The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, Cheltenham, UK (2014); Disappearing Moon, ICA Singapore, Singapore (2013); Surface Tension: The Future of Water, Eyebeam, New York, USA & Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (2011–2012); DiverseCity, Singapore Art Museum & 8Q, Singapore (2012).
Highlights & Collections
Emma Critchley has received wide recognition for her work, including being a finalist for the UK/RAINE Award (Firtash Foundation and Saatchi Gallery, 2015), the Saatchi Gallery Motion Photography Prize (2014), and The Salon Art Prize (2012). She was the winner of the Royal College of Art’s RCA Sustain: Moving Minds award (2011), and a finalist for New Sensations by the Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4 (2011). Critchley has been selected for numerous prestigious residencies, including Fresh Milk (Barbados, 2016), NARS Foundation (New York, 2015), AIRX (Singapore, 2012), and the National Trust Bucks Mills Residency (2014). She also participated in site-responsive residencies such as Floodtide (UK, 2015) and The Meantime Project Space (2012). Her work is held in collections such as Mark Clannachan, The Royal College of Art and The National Media Museum.