Fault Lines — Kristina Chan

Fault Lines is a body of work that explores the unique environments forged along tectonic shifts and volcanic rifts.

This collection spans 4 countries, 3 continents, and 2 oceans.

There is a story behind each place. It is a story of land ripped apart and thrust together, of eruptive lands and land created from eruption. The imagery in this series were captured along tectonic plate boundaries in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. These images were taken across several countries and continents over several research trips between 2021-2023.

Bordering the Pacific Ocean is a 40,000 km stretch of tectonic plates. It goes from the southernmost tip of South America up along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down through Japan, and into New Zealand. It is referred to as the Ring of Fire and is home to 452 volcanos.

—Fault Lines/fɒlt lʌɪn/

cracks in the Earth’s crust

“I grew up on a fault line. I’ve seen earthquakes and tsunamis, land formed and fallen from volcanic eruption.”

In many ways this series began on the Pacific. I grew up with the salt of the ocean in the air, moss dripping from the trees and ferns blanketing the ground. This series fluctuates between the narratives, the stories we grew up on and how we read the land.

I’m fascinated by shifting landscapes and how that affects the ecology and plant life in the region, how land can bubble up and be swallowed by the ocean equally, and how the levels of the world interact with one another.

A land that breaks out from the sea and yet is eroded by it. Built by pressure, islands are formed as the friction moves and builds along the plate, forming archipelagos. Craters mark the landscape, now overgrown with vegetation.

Caldera

Caldera & Moonrise

pigment print on Japanese Kozo, edition of 3, 110 x 146 cm each

Cascades

4 colour etching, edition of 3, 84 x 120 cm

Jurassic

right medium format pigment print on Japanese Kozo, edition of 5, 74 x 110 cm

Megaflora

medium format pigment print on Japanese Kozo, edition of 5, 74 x 110 cm

Eastern Range

left etching with chine colle, edition of 10, 84 x 60 cm

Western Range

right etching with chine colle, edition of 10, 84 x 60 cm

The Peak

rleft pigment print on Japanese Kozo, edition of 3, 135 x 160 cm together, 2023

Boxset

This series of 16 etchings explores tropical, temperate, arid and alpine landscapes along the faults lines of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Each work is an edition of 30, handprinted on Somerset Velvet 300 gsm paper. The first 10 editions of this work are part of a limited edition boxset.