Exploring and observing the context of our urban landscapes, Kris Provoost makes connections and correlations between cities, ways of living, societies, and economic performance. His work highlights the importance of architecture, infrastructure, and the built environment. Through his photo series, Kris combines his extensive photography experience with his understanding of how the world works. This website showcases his insightful observations.
As a photographer specializing in architecture and interiors, Kris collaborates with leading architects, designers, and developers to capture their projects. His work brings to light the narrative of how these designs were conceived, built, and finally used by people. His photography portfolio, www.krisprovoost.com, tells these compelling stories.
Kris’ work has been exhibited and published widely, gaining recognition across the globe.
2024 / Chongqing
ReclaimCQ
Retrieving the Unformed
Searching for vantage points across the vast city, I captured quiet moments in a buzzing city. And there are ample, surprisingly. Traces of Human vs City come back to life, there are some people minding their own business ‘posing’ for the photo, there are of course the signature Chongqing bridges but overall the photos aim to capture the scale of the infrastructure in relation to its context.
InfraCQ is a quiet observation of world’s largest city. The photos in this series deliberately try not to overwhelm, instead the photos look for balance, order, and quietness. They didn’t require me to crawl, climb or do heroic things. The viewpoints of these photos are there, as in, to be seen when strolling around the city. As a model citizen I walked around the city from morning till evening, without any targets. I captured the mundane, as a cohabitant of the other 20,000,000 million people in Chongqing at that time. Except the mundane isn’t so mundane when looking back. READ MORE
2017 - Present / China
The Architectural Revolution
Beautified China
Beautified China is a collection of photographs taken over a decade and a half, capturing the vast extents of China's architectural wonders. Each photograph, taken with a minimalist approach, encapsulates striking architecture in an objectified way.
The journey began two decades ago, in 2001, when China was announced as the host country for the 2008 Olympics. What followed was unprecedented: a surge of breathtaking architecture erected across China over the next few years. Foreign architects, and later local talent, unleashed their creativity, designing buildings that redefined the boundaries of architecture on a previously unrelatable scale. READ MORE
DOCUMENTATION (PDF)
BOOK
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
A new book examines the striking works of Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Thomas Heatherwick, and Kengo Kuma, all luminaries who have changed China's skyline in their own way
2017 / BEAUTIFIED CHINA I
2018 / BEAUTIFIED CHINA II
2019 / BEAUTIFIED CHINA III
2024 / BEAUTIFIED CHINA IV (coming soon)
>> DEZEEN
Detailed photos of 80 Chinese buildings feature in Kris Provoost's book Beautified China, which spotlights the country's current architectural boom.
>> VOGUE
China's ever-growing art and design world is only expanding, with no proof needed than of its incredible architecture. In a new book, Beautified China by Kris Provoost published by Lannoo Publishers, some of the country's most incredible buildings are explored through photography.
AWARDS
2021
Winner at The Architectural Photography Awards 2021
‘Building in Use’
2020-2021 will forever be remembered as the COVID-19 pandemic. Hong Kong, located just next to mainland China, took this very serious. WIth their experience of the SARS epidemic years earlier, they knew they had to act swift and strong. While Hong Kong remained relatively safe compared to the rest of the world, this was only achieved by severe measure. Only 1 case in a highrise of 50+ stories resulted in the complete relocation of everyone living in the building to be shipped of to quarantine camps on the outlying islands. The result is a surreal view of a large skyscraper completely empty, while its neighbouring towers can continue life like nothing happened. This particular incident in Tung Chung, Hong Kong, sparked strong criticism from the citizen in Hong Kong. It didnt do much. Now 20 months onwards in the pandemic, Hong Kong still has the longest quarantine and testing requirements. Life is long not back to normal here.
Location: Tung Chung, Hong Kong
2019
Winner at Blueprint Photography Awards 2019
‘Urbanism - Professional’
China is bound to become the number one world power. With a tremendous speed, many Chinese cities have exploded and house tens of millions of people. Humans and city were forced to coexist.
Chongqing is the most populated city proper, according to Wikipedia. With more than 30 000 000 people in its streets, the city tends to feel dense at times. This feeling becomes most apparent when viewed from a distance. The streets and buildings of Chongqing offer surreal vantage. This is a photo series portraying humanity in the megapolis. I ventured out in the city to capture this machine with a focus on certain keywords: density, humanity, transportation.
The photos show how people move around the city. The photos show the intense density that is needed to keep a city running, The photos show how people deal with this insanity each in their own way.
Location: Chongqing, China
2023 / Chongqing
InfraCQ
Human vs Infrastructure
Searching for vantage points across the vast city, I captured quiet moments in a buzzing city. And there are ample, surprisingly. Traces of Human vs City come back to life, there are some people minding their own business ‘posing’ for the photo, there are of course the signature Chongqing bridges but overall the photos aim to capture the scale of the infrastructure in relation to its context.
InfraCQ is a quiet observation of world’s largest city. The photos in this series deliberately try not to overwhelm, instead the photos look for balance, order, and quietness. They didn’t require me to crawl, climb or do heroic things. The viewpoints of these photos are there, as in, to be seen when strolling around the city. As a model citizen I walked around the city from morning till evening, without any targets. I captured the mundane, as a cohabitant of the other 20,000,000 million people in Chongqing at that time. Except the mundane isn’t so mundane when looking back. READ MORE
DOCUMENTATION (PDF)
2020 / Hong Kong
Eden of the Orient
Hong Kong’s Dilemma
Hong Kong has a unique set of urban characteristics. Beyond what it is known for: a vertical city boasting the highest number of skyscrapers in any city around the world, it reveals a growing lack of space. Build on a set of islands, with mountainous terrain covering the majority of the available land, all that is left to build are tiny slivers of space where the ever-rising population needs to be housed. To solve the land shortage, the Hong Kong government has been building hyper-dense 'new towns'. The results are staggering and form the subject of this photo-essay. 2 seemingly completely disassociated elements converge in the Hong Kong landscape: high rise living with abundant green-topped mountains. It reveals a set of problems, and explains the deeper meaning of the social unrest currently overtaking Hong Kong: is there still a liveable future in Hong Kong? READ MORE
2019 / Chongqing
Human vs City
In Frame: Chongqing
2021 / Hong Kong
Estate Centres
HK’s Community Infra
2022 / Hong Kong
Elements of HK
The Everyday
2018 / China
Beautified China II
China’s Other Cities