I am an artist and curator, born in Hong Kong, now based in Johannesburg, South Africa. My practice is rooted in a non-narrative documentary tradition and centres around observations of built environments, cultural landscapes, and expressions of material culture, particularly within East and Southern Africa. My approach to photography also incorporates still-life and sculptural elements, resulting in hybrid projects that explore how architecture—or how architecture is inhabited, adapted, or abandoned—shapes the expression and experience of culture.
A key concern in my work is local distinctiveness: the subtle, often overlooked cultural forms through which a place asserts itself. Working in a deliberately non-hierarchical way, I place minor architectures and informal structures on equal footing with venerated heritage sites. Image sequencing thus becomes a central component of my methodology. Where architectural photography is often organised through typologies, my sequences operate more as ‘morphologies’. It is a fluid approach that views cultural forms and architectures as layered and interwoven, and the built environment as a platform for experimentation and change.
Recent projects include Swahili Morphology, a study of urbanism and heritage along the East African littoral; Through Monuments, which examines the tensions between memory, landscape, and ideology in postcolonial Southern Africa; and Organised Island, which explores the relationship between colonial infrastructure and vernacular building traditions on Mozambique’s former slave-trading islands.
My work has been recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Hariban Award (2023) and by being shortlisted for the CAP Prize – the Contemporary African Photography Prize (2024). Beyond my artistic practice, I have curated over 60 exhibitions at international galleries, and my writing has appeared in artists’ books, magazines, and career retrospectives.
BA (hons) Photography,
UAL: London College of Communication
Roof Unit Photographic Studio,
London
Flowers Gallery, Photography Director,
London
Architectural Association Visiting School,
Unknown Fields, Madagascar
Las Pozas, Mexico
Relocated to Johannesburg,
South Africa
Saba Artist Residency,
Lamu Island, Kenya
Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg,
Visual Culture Trainer
Edward Burtynsky Studio,
Africa consultant
Robert Morat Galerie,
Art fair consultant
©2026 All images and text unless otherwise credited copyright Christopher Littlewood
UAL: London College of Communication
Roof Unit Photographic Studio,
London
Flowers Gallery, Photography Director,
London
Architectural Association Visiting School,
Unknown Fields, Madagascar
Las Pozas, Mexico
Relocated to Johannesburg,
South Africa
Saba Artist Residency,
Lamu Island, Kenya
Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg,
Visual Culture Trainer
Edward Burtynsky Studio,
Africa consultant
Robert Morat Galerie,
Art fair consultant
©2026 All images and text unless otherwise credited copyright Christopher Littlewood
2003︎2006
2006︎2008
2008︎2018
2013
2017
2019
2019
2020
2020︎2022
2021︎2025
2006︎2008
2008︎2018
2013
2017
2019
2019
2020
2020︎2022
2021︎2025
LITTLEWOOD.CHRIS@GMAIL.COM
SOUTH AFRICA: +27721273645
UK, WHATSAPP: +447846211035
INSTAGRAM
LINKEDIN
I am an artist and curator, born in Hong Kong, now based in Johannesburg, South Africa. My practice is rooted in a non-narrative documentary tradition and centres around observations of built environments, cultural landscapes, and expressions of material culture, particularly within East and Southern Africa. My approach to photography also incorporates still-life and sculptural elements, resulting in hybrid projects that explore how architecture—or how architecture is inhabited, adapted, or abandoned—shapes the expression and experience of culture.
Recent projects include Swahili Morphology, a study of urbanism and heritage along the East African littoral; Through Monuments, which examines the tensions between memory, landscape, and ideology in postcolonial Southern Africa; and Organised Island, which explores the relationship between colonial infrastructure and vernacular building traditions on Mozambique’s former slave-trading islands.
My work has been recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Hariban Award (2023) and by being shortlisted for the CAP Prize – the Contemporary African Photography Prize (2024). Beyond my artistic practice, I have curated over 60 exhibitions at international galleries, and my writing has appeared in artists’ books, magazines, and career retrospectives.
©2026 All images and text unless otherwise credited copyright Christopher Littlewood
SOUTH AFRICA: +27721273645
UK, WHATSAPP: +447846211035
I am an artist and curator, born in Hong Kong, now based in Johannesburg, South Africa. My practice is rooted in a non-narrative documentary tradition and centres around observations of built environments, cultural landscapes, and expressions of material culture, particularly within East and Southern Africa. My approach to photography also incorporates still-life and sculptural elements, resulting in hybrid projects that explore how architecture—or how architecture is inhabited, adapted, or abandoned—shapes the expression and experience of culture.
A key concern in my work is local distinctiveness: the subtle, often overlooked cultural forms through which a place asserts itself. Working in a deliberately non-hierarchical way, I place minor architectures and informal structures on equal footing with venerated heritage sites. Image sequencing thus becomes a central component of my methodology. Where architectural photography is often organised through typologies, my sequences operate more as ‘morphologies’. It is a fluid approach that views cultural forms and architectures as layered and interwoven, and the built environment as a platform for experimentation and change.
Recent projects include Swahili Morphology, a study of urbanism and heritage along the East African littoral; Through Monuments, which examines the tensions between memory, landscape, and ideology in postcolonial Southern Africa; and Organised Island, which explores the relationship between colonial infrastructure and vernacular building traditions on Mozambique’s former slave-trading islands.
My work has been recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Hariban Award (2023) and by being shortlisted for the CAP Prize – the Contemporary African Photography Prize (2024). Beyond my artistic practice, I have curated over 60 exhibitions at international galleries, and my writing has appeared in artists’ books, magazines, and career retrospectives.
©2026 All images and text unless otherwise credited copyright Christopher Littlewood
BA (hons) Photography,
UAL: London College of Communication
Roof Unit Photographic Studio,
London
Flowers Gallery, Photography Director,
London
Architectural Association Visiting School,
Unknown Fields, Madagascar
Las Pozas, Mexico
Relocated to Johannesburg,
South Africa
Saba Artist Residency,
Lamu Island, Kenya
Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg,
Visual Culture Trainer
Edward Burtynsky Studio,
Africa consultant
Robert Morat Galerie,
Art fair consultant
UAL: London College of Communication
Roof Unit Photographic Studio,
London
Flowers Gallery, Photography Director,
London
Architectural Association Visiting School,
Unknown Fields, Madagascar
Las Pozas, Mexico
Relocated to Johannesburg,
South Africa
Saba Artist Residency,
Lamu Island, Kenya
Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg,
Visual Culture Trainer
Edward Burtynsky Studio,
Africa consultant
Robert Morat Galerie,
Art fair consultant
2003︎2006
2006︎2008
2008︎2018
2013
2017
2019
2019
2020
2020︎2022
2021︎2025
2006︎2008
2008︎2018
2013
2017
2019
2019
2020
2020︎2022
2021︎2025