Christopher Sims

Artist Bio Artist Work

Christopher Sims was born in Michigan and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He has an undergraduate degree in history from Duke University, a master’s degree in visual communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a M.F.A. in studio art from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He worked as a photo archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and in communications for a number of non-profit organizations. He is an Associate Professor of the Practice at the Sanford School of Public Policy and in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, both at Duke University. At Duke he also teaches in the Duke-in-Berlin summer program and in the MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts graduate program.

His recent exhibitions include shows at SF Camerawork, Cambridge University, the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art, and the North Carolina Museum of Art. His project on Guantanamo Bay was featured in The Washington Post, the BBC World Service, Roll Call, and Flavorwire. He was selected as the recipient of the Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers in 2010, chosen as one of the "new Superstars of Southern Art" by the Oxford American magazine in 2012, awarded the Arte Laguna Prize in Photographic Art in 2015, and named an Archie Green Fellow at the U.S. Library of Congress in 2017.

Education

2008 M.F.A., Studio Art, Maryland Institute College of Art

2003 M.A., Visual Communication, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

1995 B.A., History, cum laude Duke University

1993–94 German Studies and Documentary Film, University of Würzburg, Germany

Awards

2023–4

“Visualizing Climate and Community Resilience: Contemporary ‘Green’ Germany as a Case Study,” Ideation Award, Duke Climate Research Innovation Seed Program
Pilot Research Project on “Dialogues and the Experiences of War,” Sanford School of Public Policy

2023

Duke Brazil Initiative Research Travel Award
Citizenship and Transnational Migration: Photographic Tableaux, Duke Office of Global Affairs

2022–3 Trent Foundation. “German Cultural Expressions in Santa Catarina, Brazil and Baden-Württemburg/Bavaria, Germany.”

2021–3

U.S. Embassy, Berlin, Germany. “Reimagining the Transatlantic Relationship: Engaging German Youth Through Documentary Photography.” Public Diplomacy Arts Program

2022

Social Science Research Institute (SSRI). “Measuring German Cultural Connections in Santa Catarina, Brazil.”
CENTER (Santa Fe) Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee

2021

Office of Faculty Advancement. “Reckoning with Race, Racism, and the History of the American South” Grant. For “Blue Mud: Experiences of Race in Alamance County, North Carolina.” With Jaki Shelton Green, Poet Laureate of North Carolina.
FeatureShoot Emerging Photographer Award, United Kingdom
Faculty Research Grant. Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University

2020

International Visiting Professorship Grant. Bavarian State Ministry for Education, Science, and the Arts, Germany. Postponed due to Covid-19.
Regional Artist Grant. Arts, Greensboro.
Franklin Humanities Institute Seed Grant, “The Carceral Imaginary,” with Negar Mottahedeh and Leela Prasad. Duke University.
Duke Brazil Initiative Research Travel Award

2019

Duke India Initiative Faculty Award, “Imaginary Landscapes: Teachers-Students-Artists,” with Chandan Gomes and Katie Hyde
Short List, Kaunas Photo Festival, Kaunas, Lithuania
Global Seed Grant, with Birgit Bauridl and Max Stockburger. Franklin Humanities Institute and the Office of Global Affairs/Mellon Global Enhancement Fund, Duke University.
Faculty Research Grant. Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University.

2018

Short List, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival
International Studies Grant. Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund.
Short List, FestFoto, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2017

Archie Green Fellowship. American Folklife Center, U.S. Library of Congress.
Publication Grant. Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

2016

Artists and Architects Study Grant. German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Faculty Research Grant. Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University.
International Studies Grant. Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund.
Short List, RADAR Prize. Spain.

2015

Arte Laguna Prize for Photographic Art Organized by the Italian Cultural Association MoCA, with support from the Italian Head of State, and the patronage of, among others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Veneto Region, and the European Institute of Design (IED).
Regional Artist Grant. ArtsGreensboro.
Collaboration Development Grant. Council for the Arts, Duke University.
Goethe-Institut Fellowship. German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Duke Initiative for Science & Society Photography Award

2012

“100 Under 100: Superstar of Southern Art.” Oxford American.
Short List, Athens Photo Festival

2011

Short List, Forward Thinking Museum

2010

Baum Award for Emerging American Photographer. Baum Foundation / SF Camerawork.
Jury: Bruce Hainley, contributing editor, Artforum, Los Angeles; Erin O’Toole, assistant curator, department of photography, SFMOMA; Tina Takemoto, artist and professor, California College of the Arts; Jack von Euw, curator of The Bancroft Library
Pictorial Collection, UC–Berkeley; and Chuck Mobley, curator, San Francisco Camerawork.

2009

Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award Finalist Selected, Review Santa Fe

2005–08

Maryland Institute College of Art Fellowship

2007

Marty Forscher Fellowship Honorable Mention. Parsons School of Design and PDN.
PDN Photography Annual. Best Photography of the Year.

2007

Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Honorable Mention
PDN Photography Annual. Best Photography of the Year.

2006

Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50
Puffin Foundation Grant

2003

National Fellowship. Houston Center for Photography.
Judge’s Award–Julie Saul, Julie Saul Gallery.
American Society of Media Photographers–New York.
PDN Photography Annual. Best Photography of the Year.

2002

Graduate Research Grant in Photography. Center for the Study of the American South. UNC–Chapel Hill.

2001–03

Park Fellowship. UNC–Chapel Hill.

2000

Small Project Grant for Artists. D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

1995

Benenson Award. Institute of the Arts, Duke University.
Julie Harper Day Prize in Documentary Studies.
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

1992

Research Award. Center for International Studies at Duke University.

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2010 SF Camerawork, The Baum Award. San Francisco, California.

2010 Texas Tech University School of Art Theater of War: The Pretend Villages of Iraq and Afghanistan. Lubbock, Texas.

2009 Georgia College and State University War on Terror: Inside/Out—Photographs by Christopher Sims and Stacy Pearsall.   Milledgeville, Georgia.

2009 Griffin Museum of Photography Dana Fritz and Christopher Sims. Winchester, Massachusetts.

2009 Civilian Art Projects Guantanamo Bay. Curated and organized by Amanda Maddox, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Jayme McLellan, Civilian Art Projects. Washington, District  of Columbia.

2009 Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art War on Terror: Inside/Out—Photographs by Christopher Sims and Stacy Pearsall. Charleston, South Carolina. 2009.

2008 Center for the Study of the American South, UNC–Chapel Hill Theater of War: The Pretend Villages of Iraq and Afghanistan. Curated and organized by Ann Stewart, Ann Stewart Fine Art. Chapel Hill, North  Carolina.

2008 Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art Thesis Exhibition. Baltimore, Maryland.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2010

Clark Gallery/Concord Art Association: Seeing is Believing, Concord, MA

FotoFest Biennial
Discoveries of the Meeting Place. Houston, Texas.
 
Impressions Gallery
Bringing the War Home. Bradford, United Kingdom.
 
Concord Art Association / Clark Gallery
Seeing Is Believing. Concord, Massachusetts.
 
Criss Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Game Play. Omaha, Nebraska.
 
Photo Center Northwest
Photolucida’s Critical Mass 2009. Seattle, Washington.
 
Abdijmuseum Ten Duinen
Act of Faith. Koksijde, Belgium.

2009

Light Factory
Annuale. Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
Houston Center for Photography
Unite and Untie. Houston, Texas.
 
2008

Civilian Art Projects

Pastime. Washington, District of Columbia.

Warsaw School of Social Psychology

Act of Faith. Warsaw, Poland.

School of Humanities and Journalism

Act of Faith. Poznan, Poland.

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

Traveling exhibition to multiple venues in North Carolina.