| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Chris Bruun is a self-taught Edmonton photographer who has documented Edmonton life over several decades. Born in Finland, he and his brother immigrated to Canada in 1951, arriving first in Montreal. Chris worked as a construction labourer in Northern Quebec before moving to Edmonton in 1952. He then took the opportunity to move north to work at the Eldorado Mining Company in Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories. He took up photography when he discovered the mining company had a darkroom in their recreational facilities.
He taught himself photographic techniques from books, from consultation with the owner of McBain Camera in Edmonton and from a process of experimentation. He gained darkroom experience by working with the professional photographer Bob Cantelon, and eventually began his own photographic career. Some of his commercial and advertising clients were Syncrude and Travel Alberta, as well as the independent natural history film-maker, Albert Karvonen. His photograph “Boag Lake, Alberta” from June 1966 appears in Canada: A Year of the Land (1967). Many of his urban scenes capture Edmonton in transition, whether images of citizens who often go unseen, or of buildings undergoing demolition, or of fleeting weather patterns.
Chris has also made many important contributions to the documentation of Edmonton’s past and present and with the continued donation since 1995 of photographic prints to the City of Edmonton Archives, he is now adding digital photographs to the collection. Bruun’s photographs are the first major born-digital acquisition made by the Archives. His work was featured in The Photographer’s Eye exhibit at the Prince of Wales Armouries in 2015. |