Alexandra Huddleston is a photographer, writer, and walking artist. Her most recent projects describe landscape as a space of dynamic change. It’s a vision gained by walking thousands of miles in the last two decades. Alexandra brings motion through time and space into her work, expressing what it’s like to be within an ever-changing landscape. Through this process, she has radically expanded how landscape is represented photographically.
Alexandra’s research into the impact of walking on perceptions and depictions of landscape is conducted both independently and with the support of art organizations like Cow House Studios, Ireland and Cill Rialaig, Ireland. Between 2009 and 2014, she walked thousands of kilometres on pilgrimage in Spain, France, and Japan – solitary journeys that led to her current walking art practice. Most recently, she explored the Rurban landscape in the Netherlands during a masterclass at the Jan van Eyck Academie (2019) and photographed the project Traces of Time while an artist in resident at the Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain (2021 Belgium).
Alexandra presents her work to the public through her books, exhibitions, and lectures. Her books and prints are collected in archives around the world, including the British Library, Harvard University’s Hutchins Center Library, New York University’s Bobst Library, the Smithsonian Institution, and University of Cape Town’s Oppenheimer Library. As creative director and co-founder of the Kyoudai Press, Alexandra’s major publications include Lost Things (2012), 333 Saints: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktu (2013), East or West (2014), Vertigo (2016), Traces of Time (2022), and A Walk in the Park (2023).
Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone and raised in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and Bamako, Mali, her upbringing has led her to explore landscape and culture from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. In 2007, she won a Fulbright Grant to research and photograph traditional Islamic scholarship in Timbuktu, Mali. Alexandra holds a Masters of Letters in Fine Art Practice from the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland. She studied broadcast and print journalism (MS) at Columbia University, USA and fine art and East Asian studies (BA) at Stanford University, USA.
Collections, photographic prints:
Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain / British Library / Michigan State University (Residential College in the Arts and Humanities) / National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Institution Eliot Elisofon Photo Archives) / New York University / Northwestern University (The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies) / United States Embassy, Bamako, Mali / United States Library of Congress (Prints and Photographs Division)
Collections, books:
Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain / British Library / Brooklyn Museum / Glasgow School of Art / Harvard University’s Hutchins Center Library / Michigan State University / New York University’s Bobst Library / University of Capetown’s Oppenheimer Library / University of Pennsylvania
Residencies / Masterclass:
The Fondation Boghossian – Villa Empain residency program, Brussels, Belgium / Walking Birds’ Mountain II residency, Tread Softly festival, Sligo, Ireland / “RURBAN. Landscapes on the move,” Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands [masterclass] / Common Ground residency, Braemar, Scotland / Cill Rialaig Retreat residency, Baile an Sceilg, Ireland / How to Flatten a Mountain residency, Cow House Studios, Ireland / Michigan State University, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, MI, USA [guest artist] / UCROSS Foundation residency, Clearmont, WY, USA / Vermont Studio Center residency, Johnson, VT, USA [NEA fellowship]
Photo books:
A Walk in the Park, a collaborative portrait of the Jardins de l’Abbaye de la Cambre (English/ French), The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC, co-authored with Mimi Kunz
Traces of Time, walking the Jardins de l’Abbaye de la Cambre in summer, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC, hand-bound, limited-edition artist book
Vertigo, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC, hand-bound, limited-edition artist book
East or West: A Walking Journey Along Shikoku’s 88 Temple Pilgrimage, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC
333 SAINTS: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktu / L’esprit Du Savoir à Tombouctou (English/ French), The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC
Searching for Lost Time: Night Photographs from Timbuktu, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC
Chapbooks:
Tack – Tack, co-authored with Wilma Vissers
Orientation, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC, text by Alexandra Huddleston
Amor Fati, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC, with poetry by Robert Huddleston
Lost Things, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC, with poetry by Robert Huddleston
Catalogues:
Introducing The River Box, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC
2023 Catalogue, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC
Books as publisher and graphics editor:
Mother Tongue, artist book by Mimi Kunz, The Kyoudai Press : Blind Cat Valentine LLC
Recent Two-person and Solo Exhibitions:
(12/2023-03/2024) Introducing The River Box, The River Box, Santa Fe, NM, USA [catalogue]
(06/2023) A Walk in the Park, Streetview Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium [with Mimi Kunz]
(08/2021) Stratum, Site-specific installation made for Streetview Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium
(04-06/2021) Soundings, Online solo show, TheExhibit.i0
(12/2019) Tracking, Pop-up solo show, Private venue, Santa Fe, NM, USA
(06/2018) Into the Woods, The Art School, Glasgow, Scotland [with Gabriele Stuckemeier]
Recent Group Exhibitions:
(10-11/2021) ‘something beautiful 2,’ La Vallée, Brussels, Belgium
(05-06/2020) LA RÉSERVE expose IN VITRO # 5, Bar du Matin, Brussels, Belgium [curated by Lucie Pinier]
(03/2020) The 14th Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition, Gallery FotoNostrum, Barcelona, Spain [Juried Exhibition with catalogue]
(08/2019) Walking Birds’ Mountain II, The Factory Performance Space, Tread Softly festival, Sligo, Ireland
(07-08/2019) Walking Birds’ Mountain I, The Nest, Tread Softly festival, Sligo, Ireland
(07/2019) Relay 1, Tramway Upper Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
(06-07/19) RURBAN. Landscapes on the move, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands [catalogue]
(05/2019) ‘something beautiful,’ La Vallée, Brussels, Belgium [catalogue]
(10/2018) 2018 Aké Arts and Book Festival, Lagos, Nigeria
(10/2018) The Lion’s Face, ‘Common Ground’ group show, Pipe Factory, Glasgow, Scotland
(09/2018) Graduate Degree Show 2018, Glasgow School of Art, Tontine, Glasgow, Scotland [catalogue]
(04/2018) Window Vistas, Part of the GY Open House Arts Festival, McLellan Galleries, Scotland
(11/2017) Fear of White Walls, Work in Progress by MLitt Photography and Moving Image, McLellan Galleries, Scotland
(07-10/2017) Disappearing World, Edition One Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA [Juried Exhibition]
(10-11/2016) Transitions, ASMP and Edition One Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA [Juried Exhibition]
(07/2016) How to Flatten a Mountain, PhotoIreland Festival 2016, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, Ireland [curated by Ángel luis González and Kate Strain]
(07-10/2016) THE FENCE 2016: New Mexico Photographer Showcase, Santa Fe, NM, USA [Juried Exhibition]
(04/2016) Premise, Process, Product, CWA and the Rembrandt Yard Art Gallery, Boulder, CO, USA
Older Group Exhibitions of Note:
(10/2015-02/2016) West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song, British Library, London, UK [catalogue]
(12/2014-03/2015) Timbuktu Renaissance, BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium
Solo Exhibitions of The Scholarship of Islam: Timbuktu, Mali:
(02-03/2010) Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM, USA
(12/2008) French Cultural Center, Bamako, Mali
(10/2008) Multimedia Conservatory of the Arts at Balla Fasseké Kouyaté, Bamako, Mali
(10/2008) National Forum on Koranic Education at the Bamako International Conference Center, Mali
(09-10/2008) RCAH LookOut! Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Selected Grants and Awards:
Honorable Mention in Fine Art, the 14th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, 2019
Shortlisted for the Sustainability Degree Show Prize, Glasgow School of Art, 2018
Finalist, Critical Mass photography competition, 2016
Finalist, 20th Willard Van Dyke Memorial Grant, New Mexico Council on Photography, 2007
Fulbright Student Islamic Civilizations Grant, Fulbright Program, 2006 - 2007
The Daniel M. & Mildred H. Mendelowitz Memorial Scholarship, Stanford University, 2001
Phi Beta Kappa, Stanford University, 2001