Christine Huhn, Remnant, Child's Park, Pennsylvania, 2025. Courtesy the artist.
The Four Questions is a monthly series of short-form interviews in which we catch up with an artist we've previously gotten to know through their work at The CJM. This month, hear from Christine Huhn, a visual artist, educator, and cultural heritage professional who grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania and lives in San Francisco. Her work is deeply connected to the land and focuses on preserving cultural landscapes through film photography and historic photographic processes. Three of Huhn's photographs were included in the California Jewish Open at The CJM in 2024.
A: The CJM has helped me connect more deeply with my Judaism and share that connection with others. Through the California Jewish Open, I was able to share work that reflected on my background and explored themes of identity and connection. Growing up, my mom chose to hide our Judaism out of fear. It was not overt, but it left me feeling on the periphery of it. Having a space where I can be open about being Jewish has been especially meaningful.
A: For the past several months, I have been working on my first artist book. In 2023, one of my closest friends passed away, and I was searching for a way to process his death while also celebrating his life. The book features photographs taken in Pennsylvania along the Delaware River, where we grew up. Some of the images were made in 2009 during days we spent together along the river. I am now revisiting those photographs and creating new ones of the landscape since his passing. The prints are hand-made in the darkroom using the cyanotype process. The accordion bound book is meant to be held close, offering a more intimate experience than my work has traditionally provided, as it is usually printed at a large scale.
Christine Huhn, Remnant, Child's Park, Pennsylvania, 2025. Courtesy the artist.
A: The landscape has always been my biggest inspiration. I grew up five miles from the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in northeastern Pennsylvania. This connection to the landscape deeply influences my work. I use photography to capture time in the landscape, preserving its cultural history and making that history accessible. I feel fortunate to be in the Bay Area, where I have access to many national and state parks that continue to inspire me.
A: Food has always been something special in my family, as we are also Sicilian on both sides. I was a very picky eater, but my favorite snack as a child was a matzah cracker with peanut butter, which I ate year-round. Growing up on the East Coast, I had access to incredible Jewish food, and I sometimes miss that living in San Francisco.
My family did not participate in many Jewish traditions, but my mom has always observed the yahrzeits of close family members. I feel especially connected to the yahrzeit and see it as a positive twenty-four hours of remembrance rather than a time of mourning or memorial. My mom always lit the candle in our kitchen in the dark, and I thought that was so beautiful. For me, it is a way to keep the connection with those we have lost, as I imagine it is for many others.
Christine Huhn is a visual artist, educator, and cultural heritage professional who grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, less than five miles from the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. This connection to the landscape has deeply influenced her work, which focuses on preserving cultural landscapes through film photography and historic photographic processes. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the State University of New York at New Paltz and her Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Christine’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S., including The Contemporary Jewish Museum, Lancaster Museum of Art & History, and San Francisco City Hall. In 2023, she was a recipient of the San Francisco Artist Grant. She has been awarded artist residencies at Kala Art Institute, Mojave National Preserve, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Joshua Tree National Park. Her work has been featured in various publications, most notably Annette Golaz’s Cyanotype Toning Using Botanicals to Tone Blueprints Naturally.
Over the past fifteen years, Christine has volunteered with many nonprofit organizations, including the National Park Service, the Historic Preservation Office (Washington, D.C.), and the First Exposures Mentorship Program. She currently lives in San Francisco, California, where she leads the digitization lab at the University of California, Berkeley Library.