Chris Byrnes AKA Lady Camera Obscura was born in Australia into a large family of seven children. Her mother instilled a love of reading as a means of understanding the world and a means for self education along with the joy (and necessity) of making things. In the early years the radio was entertainment, encouraging listening and imagining a story rather than seeing a visual image instantly. This set the background for a life of creative pursuits. The fascination with light continues underpinned by historical and experimental photography, the camera obscura and human experiences of LIGHT.
PERSONAL MANTRA
Without light we cannot exist
Without light I have no image
Without an image I cannot exist
I love photography in all her glorious manifestations
EDUCATION:
Master Fine Art National Art School
Bachelor Fine Art (Hons) University of Newcastle
Museum and Galleries Studies TAFE
National Workshops relevant to my practice
Module Study MOMA New York
FINALIST:
Top 100 Colour Photography Awards 2025 International
Semi Finalist Newcastle Club Painting Prize 2024
Finalist Australian Photography Awards – Photo Collective Experimental 2024
Honourable Mention x 2 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards/Fotonostrum Female Photographers Experimental 2024
Mullens Conceptual Photographic Prize (2023 and 2024)
Honorable Mention in international photographic and photographic magazine awards
Blackstone Works on Paper Prize
The Newcastle Club Painting Prize
Lake Mac Art Prize
Gosford Art Prize
Ravenswood Prize for Women Artists X2
Street Photographers International
Hazelhurst Works on Paper Prize
Broken Hill Outback Art Prize x 2
WINNER:
Winner 2nd Prize Pro Hart Outback Art Prize 2025
Winner Hunter Emerging Artist Prize Experimental
Winner Newcastle Emerging Artist Prize Photography
Hunter Urban Division of General Practitioners Print Commission
EXHIBITIONS:
My work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally
Past significant exhibitions:
New York Group Photographic Show 2008
Brunswick Street Gallery, Venice, 2012
Reimagining the Canon, University of Newcastle, 2020
Head on Photography Awards, 2019, 2020 (Online due to Covid)
2025 Barcelona Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Female Photographers
2025 Pinhole Photography Exhibition Germany
2025 Pinhole Photography Group Exhibition Pavlovka Gallery
2025 Red Gallery Melbourne Solo Folding Light
2025 Womens’ Group Show Counteractions, March Forward, The Creator Incubator Hamilton North
2025 Treading Lightly, Women’s Group Show, Gallery Lane Cove, Feb/March
2024 Red Gallery Group show Melbourne
2024 Articulate Project Space Sydney, Group Show
PUBLICATIONS:
Work published in:
Black and White Photography Magazine
No Alternative Contemporary Handcrafted Photographs, Through the Lens Gallery, North Carolina
Newcastle Printmakers Workshop Publication, Celebrating 35 years, 2014
Diffusion Volume X, Artfully Crafted Photography, One Twelve Publishing, Oregon
Loud and luminous A celebration of Australian women photographers 2020
Alternative Photography, The Experimental Darkroom, Routledge, 2022
Kallitype, Vandyke Brown and Argyrotpe, Contemporary Artists, Routledge, 2024
Dodo Magazine, Colour Awards, Top 100 International Photographers Selection, 2024
Alternative Photography, Art & Artists, Edition 2, Alternativephotography.com, 2025
Fotonostrum Awards Winners Book, Female Photographers, 2025 (not released as at June 2025)
OTHER PROJECTS:
ARTIST RESIDENCY: September Nobbys Whibagaynba Site
Previous in first artist residency group as above.
ARTIST RESIDENCY: Blue Mountains Oct-Nov 2025
Personal research project London 2026
Developing International Women in Photography exhibition 2027
