Christine Breslin

Christine Breslin is an accomplished Hartford-based photographer. Raised in New York City, she moved to Connecticut in the early 1970s. She earned a B.F.A. in photography from the University of Connecticut in 1981and an M.F.A. in photography from the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, in 1995. Since then she has been working as a professional photographer. She has also been a teaching artist at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University, and the Bushnell Partners' Program and adjunct professor at Capital Community College, Manchester Community College, the Hartford Art School, and the University of Connecticut. Breslin has worked for "Pantheon Press, The Hartford Courant, Connecticut Magazine, Northeast Magazine, Utne Reader", and "The Chronicle of Higher Education". She has received numerous grants, honors, and awards for her work, which she has exhibited nationally and internationally.

Breslin practices documentary and commercial photography, which at times nourish her socially engaged art projects. She is well known for her portraiture, which documents individuals of particular age, gender, and social or ethnic groups in thematic series. She is inspired to begin a series by events that affect her own life. For example, the events of September 11, 2001, made her and many others nervous about the role of Islam in American culture. To allay her fears, she interviewed and photographed Muslim women in the Hartford area. Their reasons for wearing veils were so prosaic that they quickly dispelled hers and our uncertainties, allowing us a glimpse of their day-to-day humanity. In general, Breslin's work is an ongoing visual campaign of countering cultural stereotypes by emphasizing the personal qualities of her sitters.