Habitable climes

London-based artist Kristina Chan will bring her Habitable Climes exhibition to the Society. Originally shown at Canada House in spring 2025, the show uses photography and other mediums to question how we think about climate and exploration.

Sponsored by the Sunderland Collection Art Programme, Kristina researched in their antique map collection and undertook field expeditions to the Arctic and the Nevada desert to create this body of work. She also spent time in the Society's collections, photographing instruments used by famous explorers of the past.

The exhibition will be at the Society from 1 to 28 October. Please stop by if you are in the building. There will also be free guided tours; watch the website for information on how to sign up for those events.

Can't make it to the Society but want to see Kristina's work? The exhibition is available online thanks to the Sunderland Collection.

Exhibition opening hours

This exhibition is open during the Society's usual opening hours of 10.00am-5.00pm, Monday to Friday in the Director's Gallery.

About the artist

Kristina Chan is a London-based artist working between printmaking, photography and public installation.

Inspired by post-impressionism, Japanese prints, and contemporary photography, her work explores the boundaries between individual and collective memory, and how these colliding narratives can affect our interpretation of space.

Recent solo exhibitions include the Hancock Gallery (2023), the Litvak Contemporary (2022), and the Lightbox Museum (2021).

Her work is in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (2016, 2017), the Ingram Collection of British and Modern Art (2020) and the Royal College of Art (2018, 2016).

She has also completed commissioned pieces for the British Museum (2019) and HRH the Prince of Wales for his 70th birthday (2018).