Future Imperfect
Obsolete Delete
The Last Stand

David Ellingsen is a photographer and environmental artist creating images of site- specific installations, landscapes and object studies that speak to the natural world and Man’s impact upon it. At its core David’s work is motivated by the challenges of sustainability within contemporary Western culture.
David has been exhibiting his work since 2001 within commercial and public galleries in Canada, the USA, Asia, and Europe. His photographs are part of the permanent collections of the Chinese Museum of Photography, the Dana Farber Cancer Centre at Harvard University and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and have been shortlisted for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Book Award, awarded First Place at the Prix de la Photographie Paris and First Place at the International Photography Awards in Los Angeles.
David is also recognized for his advertising, corporate and editorial photography with a client list that includes the Business Development Bank of Canada, Time Inc., Enbridge Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation along with Men’s Health, People, Marie Claire and the New York Times magazines.
Originally from Cortes Island, a remote community of 800 residents in Canada’s Pacific Northwest, David was raised on a small family farm surrounded by forest and ocean. His photography is rooted in this rural upbringing, which emphasized the importance of pairing quality with practicality, people with the environment and the individual with the communal. These values continue to inform his working life.
Awards
2015 | Finalist, LensCulture Earth Awards |
2013 | Winner, Applied Arts Photography + Illustration Awards Shortlisted, Kontinent Awards |
2012 | First Place, International Photography Awards First Place, Prix de la Photographie Paris Winner, Applied Arts Photography + Illustration Awards |
2011 | Shortlisted, Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award Winner, PDN Awards Finalist, Top 200, Photolucida Critical Mass |
2010 | Winner, Creative Quarterly Magazine Awards Winner, The Center for Fine Art Photography Finalist, International Arte Laguna |
2009 | Winner, Applied Arts Photography + Illustration Awards Merit Award, Black + White Magazine Honorable Mention, Prix de la Photographie Paris |
2008 | Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards |
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 | As We’ve known it, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Vancouver |
2016 | Anthropocene: Messengers from the human age Winchester Gallery, Victoria David Ellingsen: Photographer and Environmental Artist, Winchester Gallery, Victoria, Canada |
2015 | The Last Stand, Initial Gallery, Capture Photography Festival |
2013 | SeaLife, British Columbia Law Courts |
2012 | SeaLife, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Hibernus, Akasha Art Projects |
2009 | Hibernus, Galerie BMG, Hibernus, Camerawork Gallery |
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016 | Intervals: Photography in Flux, South Main Gallery, Capture Photography Festival |
2015 | Environmental Photographs of the Year, Royal Geographical Society |
2014 | Vancouver Art Gallery Art Auction |
2013 | Enviromythology, Initial Gallery Photography and Environmental Concern, PhotoPlace Gallery NewYear,NewWorks,MasseyGalleryattheArtGalleryofGreaterVictoria |
2012 | Victoria: Art Collections from the Region, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria International Photography Awards Best of Show, Smashbox Studios Pro’jekt LA II, Month of Photography Los Angeles + Chop House Post Sea Inside: Design, Culture and Marine Ecology, Emily Carr University Vanimaux, Food, Fur + Foraging, Gam + Remington Galleries |
2011 | Imprint, Luz Gallery Vancouver/Vancouver,WorksfromtheRickEricksonCollection,Gallery1965 Kodachrome in Bloom, Luz Gallery Elements of Water, The Center for Fine Art Photography |
2009 | Future Imperfect, Lishui International Photography Festival Arbor, Michael Mazzeo Gallery, New York, USA |
2008 | Boundaries (with artist Michael V. Smith), Kelowna Art Gallery People + Places, Trunk Gallery, Coastlines, Trunk Gallery 2007 Art+ 5, Onepointsix Gallery Tickle Trunk (with Michael V. Smith), Jeffery Boone Gallery |
2005 | 25×1, Lumen Gallery |
2004 | Vancouver, Exposure Accrochage II, Aion Art Gallery |
2003 | Art+2, Onepointsix Gallery A Matter of Time, Exposure Gallery |
Art Fairs
2016 | Photo L.A., Los Angeles, USA |
2015 | Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada Love Art, Toronto, Canada |